Journal of Lutheran Mission - September 2014

Mission
September 2014 | Vol. 2 | No. 2

Journal of Lutheran
From the President
The Holy Cross and
Missions

hat do missions and persecution
have to do with each other? Why is the
holy cross, as Luther called the seventh
mark of the Church, the theme of this issue of the
Journal of Lutheran Mission? In John 15:20, Jesus said, A
servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted
me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word,
they will also keep yours. Christians who go out into
the world can and should expect to be treated as our
master, Jesus, was treated. Te message of the Gospel is
either received with great joy, or it
is rejected. With the rejection of the
Gospel comes persecution. Te Lord
promises that His Word will not
return empty and that He will work
all things for a blessing and the good
of His Church.
Te articles in this issue of the
journal are from the International
Lutheran Council (ILC)s ffh
world seminary conference
centered on the theme Sufering,
Persecution and Martyrdom as a Mark of the Church
held in Palanga, Lithuania, Aug. 811, 2013. Te
Lutheran churches of the world have faced persecution
in diferent forms. For instance, during the Communist
rule in Lithuania, half of all the Lutheran pastors were
imprisoned and executed a higher percentage than
any other religious group. Lutherans in Africa face
persecution from Islam, while here in the Western world,
particularly in Europe and the United States, the culture
and secular governments are becoming increasingly
hostile to the Church. Tese papers
represent the voice of Lutheranism
from around the world, explore how
the Church has sufered and ofer
insight into how we might face the
challenge of proclaiming the Gospel
to a hostile world.
Although we can and must
expect persecution and opposition
to the proclamation of the Gospel
and resistance to planting Lutheran
churches around the world, we have
the promise of Jesus that the gates
of hell will not prevail against the
Church. In the midst of trouble and sufering, we can
expect a blessing from our gracious Lord.
President Matthew C. Harrison
W
For I decided
to know nothing
among you
except Jesus
Christ and Him
crucifed
(1 Cor. 2:2).
The Journal of Lutheran Mission
Contributing Editors
Rev. Dr. Charles Arand, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
David Berger, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Rev. Dr. Steve Briel, chairman, Board for National Mission, LCMS
Rev. Allan Buss, parish pastor, Belvidere, Ill.
Rev. Roberto Bustamante, faculty, Concordia Seminary, Buenos Aires
Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director, Ofce of International Mission Regional Operations
Rev. Tomas Dunseth, director of deaf ministry, Lutheran Friends of the Deaf, New York
Rev. Dr. Charles Evanson, LCMS missionary, Lithuania
Rev. Nilo Figur, area counselor for Latin America and the Caribbean, Lutheran Hour Ministries
Rev. Roosevelt Gray, director, LCMS Black Ministry
Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez, director, LCMS Hispanic Ministry
Rev. Dr. John Kleinig, emeritus lecturer, Australian Lutheran College
Rev. Ted Krey, regional director, Latin America and the Caribbean, LCMS
Rev. Todd Kollbaum, director, Rural and Small Town Mission, LCMS
Deaconess Dr. Cynthia Lumley, principal, Westfeld Teological House, Cambridge
Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martin, parish pastor, Berlin
Rev. Dr. Naomichi Masaki, faculty, Concordia Teological Seminary, Fort Wayne
Rev. Dan McMiller, director, Missionary Recruitment, LCMS
Rev. Dr. Tilahun Mendedo, president, Concordia College, Selma
Rev. Nabil Nour, ffh vice-president, LCMS
Rev. Dr. Steve Oliver, LCMS missionary, Taiwan
Rev. Dr. Michael Paul, parish pastor, Evansville, Ind.
Rev. Roger Paavola, president, LCMS Mid-South District
Rev. Dr. Darius Petkunis, rector, Lithuanian Lutheran Seminary
Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeifer, faculty, Australian Lutheran College
Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, faculty, Concordia Teological Seminary, Fort Wayne
Rev. Dr. David Rakotonirina, bishop, Antananarivo Synod of the Malagasy Lutheran Church
Rev. Dr. Victor Raj, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Deaconess Grace Rao, director, Deaconess Ministry, LCMS
Rev. Geof Robinson, mission executive, Indiana District
Rev. Dr. Carl Rockrohr, dean, Mekane Yesus Seminary, LCMS Missionary, Ethiopia
Rev. Robert Roethemeyer, faculty, Concordia Teological Seminary, Fort Wayne
Rev. Dr. Brian Saunders, president, LCMS Iowa East District
Rev. Steve Schave, director, Urban and Inner City Mission, LCMS
Rev. Dr. Detlev Schultz, faculty, Concordia Teological Seminary, Fort Wayne
Rev. Dr. William Schumacher, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Rev. Bernie Seter, chairman, Board for International Mission, LCMS
Rev. Kou Seying, parish pastor/Hmong ministry, Merced, Calif.
Rev. Alexey Streltsov, rector, Lutheran Teological Seminary, Siberia
Rev. Martin Teigen, parish pastor/Hispanic ministry, North Mankato, Minn.
Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Weber, Jr., bishop, Lutheran Church in Southern Africa
Rev. Dr. E. A. W. Weber, retired professor and rector, Lutheran Teological Seminary, Enhlanhleni (KwaZulu-Natal)
Rev. John Wille, president, LCMS South Wisconsin District

Executive Editors
Rev. Bart Day, executive director, LCMS Ofce of National Mission
Rev. Randy Golter, executive director, LCMS Ofce of International Mission
Table of Contents
Why Synod Missions? by Albert B. Collver III ........................................................................................... 6
Christian Martyrdom: Some Reflections by William Weinrich ........................................................ 9
Greetings to the Fifth International Lutheran Council
Seminaries Conference by Hans-Jrg Voigt ............................................................................................. 16
Sub Cruce Revelata: The Cross as a Mark of the Church An Exegetical
Perspective by Roberto E. Bustamante ..................................................................................................... 18
Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom as a Mark of the Church: How Has
This Affected Theological Education? A Practical Perspective from Africa
by Joseph Omolo ................................................................................................................................................ 28
A Confessional, Dogmatic View of Martyrdom
and the Cross by Lawrence R. Rast, Jr........................................................................................................ 36
The Holy Cross: Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom a Mark of the
Church in the Modern Age by Albert B. Collver III ........................................................................... 50
Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom as a Mark of the Church in
Europe by Darius Petkunas ............................................................................................................................ 52
Book Review: Improving Preaching by Listening to Listeners: Sunday Service
Preaching in the Malagasy Lutheran Church by Robert H. Bennett ........................................... 58
Book Review: Joining Jesus on His Mission How to Be an
Everyday Missionary by Geoffrey L. Robinson ........................................................................................ 60
Book Review: Protestant Missionaries to the Middle East: Ambassadors
of Christ or Culture? by Albert B. Collver III ........................................................................................ 64
September 2014 | Vol. 1 | No. 2
A periodical of Te Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synods Ofces of National and International Mission.
2014 Te Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod.
Reproduction of a single article or column for parish
use only does not require permission of Te Journal
of Lutheran Mission. Such reproductions, however,
should credit Te Journal of Lutheran Mission as the
source. Cover images are not reproducible without
permission. Also, photos and images credited to
sources outside the LCMS are not to be copied.
Editorial ofce:
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Published by Te Lutheran Church
Missouri Synod.
Please direct queries to
journalofutheranmission@lcms.org.
Tis journal may also be found at www.
lcms.org/journalofutheranmission.
Mission
Journal of Lutheran
Member: Associated Church Press Evangelical Press Association (ISSN 2334-1998)
6 Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod
Why Synod Missions?
by Albert B. Collver III
Te Synod hasa rich history of
foreign mission work and its
future warrants a coordinated
efort.
Introduction
W
hen the Missouri Synod was formed in
1847, it was following the example of the
Apostolic Church as described in Acts 15.
Naturally, therefore, it included among its other goals,
mission.
1
Using Acts 15:3s great joy at the report of the
conversion of the Gentiles to the Faith as its basis, Article
III of the Synod Constitution states among its objectives
is to extend that Gospel witness
into all the world. Tis is mission.
During the earliest days of the Synod,
mission was primarily pursued in
North America (the United States
and Canada). Later, this work
extended outside the boundaries
of North America. Ironically, the
extension of Missouri Synod mission
into South America was not seen
as foreign mission, as that work led
to the creation of a district of the
Missouri Synod.
Te foreign mission work of the
Missouri Synod began in earnest
in 1872, when the Synodical Con-
ference was formed with a goal of
helping the founding Synods engage
in this key expression of mission. Ini-
tially, the Synodical Conference did not send missionaries
but supported the activities of Lutheran missionaries who
separated from various mission societies due to doctrinal
reasons, including some missionaries who had been with
the Leipzig Mission Society in India. In 1880, pastors were
sent to Australia. In 1884, at the Synodical Conference
convention, an appeal was made to send a missionary to
1
Constitution of the Missouri Synod, Preamble. Handbook 2013, 9.
Japan.
2
Te 1887 Synod Convention resolved that the
Synod empower the Board of Foreign Missions to take the
introductory steps toward the opening of heathen mis-
sions also beyond our own country on behalf of Synod.
3

Discussion about where to begin foreign missions focused
on Ceylon (the Tamil speakers in present day India and
Sri Lanka). Soon, the Synod turned its eyes toward begin-
ning mission work in Japan. But this
was short lived. Up to 1892 every-
thing had been surging forward, but
then a reversal set in. Te Sino-Jap-
anese War also hampered mission
work. Only six months afer Synods
resolution was passed, Lehre und
Wehre issued a ten-page article on
church conditions in Japan and indi-
cated how work was becoming ever
more difcult.
4
Te Synod would not
return to the idea of mission in Japan
until afer World War II. In 1894
(47 years afer the founding of the
Synod),
5
the Synod ofcially began
foreign mission work in India. Since
that beginning in 1894, the Synods
work (as defned by sending funds or
2
Koppelmann, Herman H. Missouri Synod Undertakes Foreign
Missions. Concordia Teological Monthly 22, no. 8 (1951): 552566.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid., 565.
5
It has been noted that it seems to take a church body about 50 years
to begin engaging in foreign missions. Tis was true not only for the
Missouri Synod, but also for a number of our partner churches as well.
As the article, Ecclesiology, Mission and Partner Relations: What
it Means that Lutheran Mission Plants Lutheran Churches, in the
previous issue of the Journal of Lutheran Missions, March 2014, noted,
there is a life cycle moving toward a responsible Lutheran church.
Some time is needed to develop the structures of a church body before
it can seriously engage in foreign missions (seminaries, structures of
governance, capacity to address theological issues, et al.).
When a congregation
or district engages in
short-term or overseas
mission work, keep in
mind the whole of the
church and coordinate
with the Synods offcial
mission efforts. In the
long run, this will help
create an enduring
and long-term Gospel
presence in the foreign
mission feld.
7
Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod
personnel) has extended into more than 90 countries.
Rather than employ existing mission societies in
either Europe or America, the Synod from its inception
intended to integrate foreign mission work into its life
together, so that the diversities of gifs should be for the
common proft. Te Synod also was concerned about
planting Lutheran congregations and maintaining doc-
trinal purity (Synod Constitution, Article VI, which says
members of Synod will not participate in heterodox tract
and missionary activities), which the history of 19th cen-
tury mission societies demonstrates was difcult to do
apart from a church body. Te expansion of the Missouri
Synod in the late-19th and early-20th centuries poised the
Synod for a large expansion into foreign missions afer
World War II, when much of the world was opened due to
the economic and military infuence of the United States.
To maximize the Synods mission eforts, the 1965 Synod
Convention created the Board for Foreign Missions. Te
intention was for the Synods mission board to be the
primary organ for the Synods mission eforts overseas.
Congregations and districts conducted foreign missions
through the Synods mission board. Prior to the jet age in
the late 1960s and early 1970s, the only practical way to
engage in foreign mission work was through an entity like
a synod or a mission board. With the advent of relatively
inexpensive jet travel to foreign lands, it became possible
for individual districts and congregations even rela-
tively small mission societies to engage in short term
trips and even send their own missionaries longer term.
With the proliferation of missionaries from Mis-
souri Synod congregations and districts, a situation arose
where confusion developed regarding who was a mission-
ary from the Missouri Synod and who was not. Foreign
partners ofen see any LCMS group, congregation, pastor,
individual as an ofcial Missouri Synod missionary.
To alleviate this confusion, the 1983 Synod convention
adopted Res. 537, which identifed the Mission Board
as the only sending agency through which workers and
funds are sent to the mission areas of the Synod. Tis was
done to avoid confusion and competition on the mission
feld, when Districts and other entities have sent mission-
aries (clergymen, teachers, etc.) to foreign mission felds
at their expense.
Since the 1983 convention resolution, ease of world
travel has only increased as has mission zeal among
members of the Synod (both congregations and rostered
workers, not to mention congregational members). Both
of these developments are good for mission work. Con-
gregations and districts are engaged in short-term trips
more than ever before. Some are even taking on larger
projects. Tere is no doubt that this has brought blessing
to people overseas and to individual people who par-
ticipate in them. At the same time, it has caused some
confusion among Missouri Synod partners, even caus-
ing some to question if the Synods desire to do mission
through the mission board is an antiquated lefover from
days gone by. Rather than an obsolete relic, however, the
desire to work together as a Synod in mission is perhaps
even more important today than it was in the early 1980s.
Te Internet has opened global communications and
has made it very easy to make connections with various
overseas church groups that are willing to change their
name from Baptists, or Anglican or Evangelical Faith
Temple to Lutheran as soon as funds are sent. Ameri-
can pragmatism always has sought ways to minimize
expense and enhance cooperation in order to avoid dupli-
cation of eforts. If a pan-Christian mission society is
performing a good and useful task in a foreign country,
pragmatism calls for cooperation. Ever since the dawn
of relatively easy commercial travel (end of the 17th cen-
tury and beginning of the 18th century), this has been the
siren call of Protestant missions. Yet the Missouri Synod
rightly seeks to avoid heterodox tract and mission societ-
ies, choosing instead to do Lutheran missions by planting
Lutheran churches.
Many districts and congregations of the synods who
display mission zeal become engaged with groups over-
seas without realizing who is or is not a partner church of
the LCMS. In some cases, this leads to cooperation and
projects with groups that hold doctrinal positions difer-
ent than those of the Missouri Synod. Te LCMS currently
has 35 partner churches (a list of partner churches can be
found here: www.lcms.org/partnerchurches), and a grow-
ing number of emerging relationships that, Lord willing,
will lead to pulpit and altar fellowship. Some of these
emerging relationships even developed due to the eforts
of districts and congregations of the Synod. Now more
than ever is the need for coordination and working the
Synods mission efort.
Long-term career missionaries provide invaluable
experience and knowledge, as well as stability in the rela-
tionship between the Synod and her partners. Tey also
assist in the management of projects with partners. As
any congregation that has engaged in short-term mission
trips knows, there can be challenges in communication
between people, as well as difering expectations. Synod
missions also help provide long-term commitment that is
difcult for a congregation or district to maintain much
beyond a few years, let alone for decades.
Te present day has opened a number of possibilities
for mission work and for new partners. Most of these
emerging relations are not mission work in the sense
of a Christian proclaiming the Gospel to a people group
who have never heard the Gospel before, but involve
working with an existing church (perhaps one that the
Missouri Synod has previously had little or no contact
with). Such work can be engaged most efectively in a
church-to-church relationship, rather than through indi-
vidual relationships. In fact, a few of the LCMS new
mission activities have come about when congregations
that began a project overseas become fatigued or are no
longer able to support it. Te church-to-church aspect
of contemporary mission work further emphasizes the
advantage of Synod mission work.
Short-term mission trips are a reality of the pres-
ent age. Changes in geopolitics or the strong economic
position of America may alter that in the future, but for
the present, they are a reality in which we work. Along
with the good, challenges emerge too. Tose considering
foreign mission engagement should keep in mind these
realities: stewardship and the purpose of the Synod, that
the diversities of gifs should be for the common proft.
Practically speaking, this means congregations and dis-
tricts with mission zeal and passion for foreign work
should consider supporting the projects of the Synod and
the Synods missionaries. When a congregation or district
engages in short-term or overseas mission work, keep in
mind the whole of the church and coordinate with the
Synods ofcial mission eforts. In the long run, this will
help create an enduring and long-term Gospel presence
in the foreign mission feld.
Te Rev. Dr. Albert Collver III is the LCMS director of
Church Relations; LCMS director of Regional Operations
for the Ofce of International Mission and executive
secretary of the International Lutheran Council.
9
Christian Martyrdom:
Some Reflections
by William Weinrich
Dr. Weinrichs historical ref-
erences regarding Christian
persecution and martyrdom
provide insight and encourage-
ment for Christians now facing
persecution.
ccording to John 15:20, in the Upper Room Je-
sus said to His disciples, A slave is not greater
than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will
also persecute you. In these words, our Lord foretells
and forewarns us that we live in the last days. Later in the
Gospel of John, we are told that when Jesus received the
sour wine, He said, It is com-
pleted, and handed over the
Holy Spirit (John 19:30). Te
last days commenced with the
death of Jesus, which is to say
that the last days (sub cruce)
have as their essential mark
the confrontation of Chris-
tian faith with the world. In
his First Letter the Apostle
Peter makes this point quite
explicitly: Beloved, do not
be astonished at the fery tri-
al when it comes upon you to
test you, as though something
strange were happening to
you (1 Peter 4:12). One who is
baptized into Christ must ex-
pect the destiny of Christ. Te
Gospel of John does not allow
us to ameliorate this point. In
this Gospel, the Evangelist conjoins the gif of the Spirit
and the story of Tomas. Upon the risen Jesus command
to touch His side and His hands, Tomas recognizes Je-
sus to be his Lord and his God (John 20:2429). Tis is
a distinctly martyrological moment: Communion in the
passion of Jesus, at the same time, bears within it the con-
fession of Jesus as Lord and God. Te last days demand
such communion and such confession. Here, we might
point out that the idea of the last days is not so much
a chronological reality as it is the rality of the cross in the
world. When the world is not confronted by the cross, it
does not experience the fullness of the last days.
A
Christians have faced hostility and rejection at some
time and in some place ever since the foundation of the
Church. Yet special factors, new to our experience, may
be mentioned which make the theme of persecution and
martyrdom understandable and pastorally necessary at
the present time. A recent report of the Vatican on the
persecution of Christians
throughout the world makes
mention of two of these special
factors. In part, the report
states the following:
Credible research has
reached the shocking con-
clusion that an estimate of
more than 100,000 Chris-
tians are violently killed
because of some relation
to their faith every year.
Other Christians and other
believers are subjected to
forced displacement, to the
destruction of their places
of worship, to rape and to
the abduction of their lead-
ers In addition, in some
Western countries where
historically the Christian presence has been an in-
tegral part of society, a trend emerges that tends to
marginalize Christianity in public life, to ignore
historic and social contributions and even to re-
strict the ability of faith communities to carry out
social charitable services.
Groups such as Persecution.org concur with such
fndings: According to this group, some two hundred
million Christians currently live under persecution. And
the number is rising. Concerning active persecution of
Christians, Persecution.org mentions especially places
like Africa and the Middle East. In Egypt, the ancient and
When commanded to
deny God and to disobey
His will so that one
might claim oneself for
the powers of futility,
the only response of
one who is Christian is
to acknowledge ones
freedom from such non-
entities and ones free
allegiance to the God
who truly is and who
alone creates.
traditional Coptic Christians face increasing hostility, and
according to one observer what has happened in Iraq
and Syria is de facto ethnic cleansing of Christians (Neil
Hicks of Human Rights First).
Tere are two major threats in the world to Lutheran
churches: the rise of an expansionist, jihadist Islam, which
is unwilling to give place to Christian communities,
and the increasing dominance of Western secular
egalitarianism, which claims that traditional Christian
thinking and habit are intolerant and discriminatory,
and so secularists also are unwilling to tolerate Christian
infuence in the public square. Tose of us who live in
Western Europe or in the United States are well aware
of the social and even legal forces which intend to defne
Christian faith as a mere private opinion and rob it of any
legitimate public or social role. Tis is, to be sure, a new
phenomenon, and our people are largely ill-prepared for
this emerging challenge. Since the time of Constantine,
biblical perspectives and understandings have determined
the social habits of the Western world, which in turn have
been more or less enshrined by custom and law. Although
our theology might teach us that we are to live a theology
of the cross, our experience of being Christian in the world
has for a long time been uncontested and without serious
public challenge (at least this is true of Western Europe
and the USA). Tat is no longer the case. Christian
convictions increasingly represent a minority view, and
traditional Christian social and legal protections no
longer hold sway.
Today, being a Christian in the world is contested
and is facing serious challenges in some places with
murderous consequences. It benefts us all to contemplate
how we might best prepare ourselves and our people
to meet this existential challenge. I would like to ofer
some refections on stories of early Christian martyrdom
as narrated in early Christian martyr texts. It is quite
evident that early Christians thought about the reality
of martyrdom as a Christian reality and consciously
prepared themselves for this eventuality. Indeed, our very
frst evidence for an emerging martyr cult makes this
clear. In the Martyrdom of Polycarp (c. 157), we are told
that upon the death of Polycarp the Christians gathered
his bones and buried them in a suitable place.What
made the location suitable is then described: Gathering
here, as we are able, in joy and gladness, the Lord will
permit us to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom,
both as a memorial for those who have already struggled
and for the training and preparation of those who will
[in the future struggle] (Martyrdom of Polycarp, 18).
1

Te language suggests that on the anniversary date of
Polycarps martyrdom, the Christian community gathered
at the place of his burial and there commemorated the
death of past martyrs (probably through the reading
of martyr narratives), and by prayer and exhortation
prepared the living for future sufering. Moreover, the
language suggests that this took place within, or in
conjunction with, a Eucharistic service. It is instructive to
note that the Eucharist was regarded as a proper occasion
for martyrological refection. To commune with the Body
and Blood of Christ was to be bound with Him who was
Himself the faithful witness (Rev. 1:5) and received
the crown of life: Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit (Luke 23:46). Union with Christs body and blood
unites the faithful to the goal and destiny of Christian
faith, namely, to that perfection whereby the confession
of the mouth is instantiated by the sacrifce of ones life
for the true confession. Te death of the martyr was itself
witness and demonstration that in Christ God had
overcome death by the new creation of the resurrection.
2

Participation in the Supper of the Lord, therefore, bears
within itself the destiny of martyrdom should that be
according to Gods will and purpose.
3
As we think about
the present circumstances of our Lutheran churches in
the world and about how best to prepare our people for
future sufering, we should not forget the great resource
we have in the Sacrament of the Altar. For it is not merely
that which strengthens faith but is itself the reality of life
over death: Whoever feeds on my fesh and drinks my
1
Te birthday of his martyrdom a striking expression but quite
typical of early thinking about martyrdom: the death of the martyr was,
in fact, his/her entry into life.
2
It may be helpful here to remind ourselves that the term martyr
did not designate one who had only given an oral witness before an
unbelieving audience. Te term referred exclusively to those who had
died, and in their death itself were martyr. Te witness of the martyr
was the death itself. One who gave an oral witness but yet did not sufer
death for that witness was called a confessor.
3
In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of the future sufering of his
followers within the Upper Room discourse. Te Synoptic Gospels
have no such discourse, while John has the discourse, but no explicit
institution narrative. One may well interpret John 1317 as a catechesis
on the implications of partaking in the Supper, of the life received and
then lived. Ignatius of Antioch gives an early tradition of a conversation
between the risen Jesus and his disciples: Jesus commands them to
touch him and see that he is not a bodiless spirit. And straightway
they touched him and believed, being closely united to his fesh and
blood. For this reason they despised death, indeed were found to be
superior to death (Smyrn. 3:2). In my judgment, the last two sentences
speak of the disciples partaking of the Eucharist and then, and for
that reason, proving to be superior to death in their various bold
confessions and also martyrdoms.
11
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
day (John 6:54).
Early Christian thinking about martyrdom did not
arise from general notions of courageous conviction and
heroic death. While one may fnd references to classical
heroes in early exhortations to martyrdom (ex. Tertullian,
Ad martyras), these did not provide the substance of
early Christian martyr theology. For that, the prototype
was clear; the passion and death of Jesus were the pre-
eminent paradigm. Nor was his death regarded in general
terms. Were that the case, his death would possess no
meaningful martyrological signifcance. Te death of the
martyr possessed nothing natural about it; rather, it was a
confict with the powers of evil in which the martyr fought
precisely by the willing submission to those powers. In
considering the passion and death of Jesus as paradigm,
certain features are of importance.
In his little exhortation To the martyrs, Tertullian
interprets Eph. 4:30 as a martyr text: And do not grieve
the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the
day of redemption. Tertullian thus connects the reality
of the Baptism with the difculties of persecution and
martyrdom. In the case of the martyrs, the Spirit which
has sealed them at Baptism has also led them to the
moment of their martyr suferings. Now in the face of
such suferings, the martyrs are exhorted not to grieve
that Spirit of God by denial of Christ and apostasy. For
should they deny Christ, they would thereby cause the
Spirit to fee from them. Te thinking behind this little
exhortation requires some further comment.
Te New Testament speaks of Baptism as a begetting
from above (John 3:3) or as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
Trough Baptism, therefore, the sinner has received a new
identity, a new personhood which is defned by a new set
of relationships and obligations. Tis new identity is not
natural, nor of the fesh. It is of the Spirit, and so this new
identity is grounded in God and is directed toward the
resurrection of the dead. Paul speaks of this new identity
given in Baptism: For we have received the Spirit of
the adoption into sonship, by which [Spirit] we cry out,
Abba, Father! (Rom. 8:15; also Gal. 4:57). Te identity
of the baptized is that of child/son of the heavenly Father.
Tere is in this conviction a distinctly ascetic, other-
worldly aspect, which makes all earthly, natural, feshly
relationships radically penultimate. In early martyr texts,
this is especially expressed in relation to earthly familial
ties and to the claims of imperial authority and power. In
this context, it is important to remember that Christian
faith cannot be reduced to private opinion. Christian
truth does not understand itself to be an opinion which
may be added to or subtracted from the storehouse of
other opinions. Rooted in Baptism, Christian faith makes
a claim concerning the fundamental, irreducible reality
of the human person. Hence, the common, recurring
confession of the Christian martyr: sum Christianus; I
am a Christian. To make that claim was not merely to
state that one believed so-and-so to be true. It was a claim
of personal identity that re-ordered ones basic social,
familial and political allegiances. Christian martyrdom,
therefore, was intrinsically a statement that had social,
familial and political implications. Christian martyrdom
was not an act of heroism that was personal and individual.
It was an essentially public act that called into question
any ultimate, transcendent attachment to that which
was not God. What characterizes all martyr stories is the
report of public trials and public spectacles. Te martyr
stands before the world and gives witness, frst with the
mouth, then with his death. Tis is why martyrdom must
be regarded as a fundamentally ecclesial act.
4
In his death,
the martyr makes clear that no earthly attachment
not that of family, not that of nation or ruler was an
ultimate good (optimum bonum). Tat which alone was
ultimately true and good was the confession of faith, I
am a Christian.
5
A couple of examples will sufce.
In the second century Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs
the proconsul, Saturninus, demands that the Christians
honor the emperor with oath and prayer: We [Romans]
are a religious people, and our religion is a simple one:
we swear by the genius of our lord, the emperor, and
we ofer prayers for his health . Swear by the genius
of our lord, the emperor.
6
It is clear that the proconsul
thinks that the Christians owe the emperor a pledge of
allegiance. He is our lord (noster dominus). Tat such an
oath suggests an ultimate allegiance is clear from the fact
that the punishment for not swearing by the emperors
genius is death. To live requires allegiance to an earthly,
political power. In response to the proconsuls demand,
the Christian Speratus replies, I do not recognize the
4
In his treatise On the Churches and Councils Luther lists martyrdom as
one of the marks (notae) of the Church.
5
From this perspective we can understand why the martyr was a special
object of honor and veneration. By his voluntary, steadfast death he
gave form to the frst commandment: You shall love the Lord, your
God, will your heart, soul and mind (Matt. 23:37).
6
All citations are from Herbert Musurillo, Te Acts of the Christian
Martyrs (Oxford Early Christian Texts; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
Here Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs 35 (Musurillo, 86/87).
rule (imperium) of this world. Rather, I serve that God
whom no man sees or can see with these eyes. Another
Christian, Cittinus, says, We have no one whom we
fear except our Lord (domnum nostrum), God, who is in
heaven. To this Donata adds, Pay honor to Caesar as
Caesar, however, give fear to God. Tereupon various
Christians said, I am Christian, and Speratus too said,
I am Christian, and, we are informed, All concurred
with him.
7
In this simple early martyr text we see quite
clearly that the question in play is this: Who is the true
Lord in the world? Te confession I am Christian is
nothing other than the claim that all earthly powers
are penultimate and cannot legitimately claim ultimate
loyalty. Tis is a central idea in early martyr thinking, and
we must shortly return to this aspect of early Christian
martyrology.
But it was not only political attachments that are
rendered secondary and penultimate in early martyr
texts. Family ties as well are surrendered up and sundered
altogether. Perhaps the most poignant example of this
is to be found in the Passion of Perpetua (c. 202). When
Perpetua, a young, noble woman, is arraigned before the
Roman magistrate, her father appears and begs her not
to dishonor her family and bring upon it ill-repute and
social disgrace: Do not abandon me to the reproach of
men. Tink of your brothers, of your mother, of your
aunt; also consider your child . Give up your pride!
You will destroy us all. Later, when the Christians were
brought to a public hearing at the forum, Perpetua is
again confronted by her father who has brought along
with him Perpetuas small child. He says to Perpetua,
Sacrifcehave mercy on your infant. Urged by the
governor to take pity upon her father and infant, Perpetua
is ofcially asked, Are you Christian? And she said,
Christiana sum.
8
Te claim to Christian identity bears
within itself the claim that all family ties and associations
and obligations are temporal, penultimate and may not
assume our deepest loyalties. In Perpetuas confession I
am Christian, she embodies the words of Jesus: Whoever
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not
worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and
follow afer Me is not worthy of Me (Matt 10:37-38).
Let us turn now to what is the central issue in all early
martyr accounts, and that is the question of idolatry.
7
Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs 610 (Musurillo, 86/87-88/89).
8
Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas 56 (Musurillo, 112/13114/15).
We have already referred to the words of Speratus in the
Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs: I do not recognize the rule
(imperium) of this world. Rather, I serve that God whom
no man sees or can see with these eyes. It is an interesting
fact that in early Christian martyr texts the primary
confession of the martyr is not, as we might expect, belief
in Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. Te central
confession is to God as the Creator of all things living.
Te late second century Martyrdom of Apollonius (c
180) gives a good example of this. When Apollonius is
brought before the court, the proconsul, Perennis, asks
him, Apollonius, are you a Christian? To this inquiry
Apollonius responds, Yes, I am a Christian, and for that
reason I worship and fear the God who made heaven and
earth, and sea, and all that is in them.
9
Te confession of
Apollonius is not explicitly that of the second article of
the creed, nor of the third article. It is a confession of the
frst article: I believe in God the Creator.
10

In the context of martyrdom this cannot be an abstract
claim such as I believe that God has created the world.
Luthers explanation of the First Article is to the point: I
believe that God has made me and all creatures. Let us
again emphasize: Te confession of the martyr, Christianus
sum, was not merely a statement of membership in a
particular religious group. Te confession Christianus
sum was a confession of personal identity; it expressed
who one was not merely what one believed to be true. It is
this fact that made the question of idolatry so trenchant,
for the question central to all martyr stories is this: Who
is it who possesses the power to kill and to make alive?
Te claim concerning the martyrs identity is at the same
time a claim concerning the true God!
Te narratives of early Christian martyrdoms are
stories of confict. In such stories there is no neutral
ground.
11
Te Christian is either to sacrifce to the gods
or he is not to sacrifce; he is either to confess or he is to
deny; he is to live or he is to die. Within this existential
moment for the martyr lies the confict between God
and the false gods. Let us take a few other examples of
interrogations by Roman ofcials and the responses
9
Martyrdom of Apollonius 2 (Musurillo, 91).
10
Tis confession of God as Creator occurs frequently. See the
Martyrdom of Justin 2.5 (Musurillo, 43); Martyrdom of Carpus 10
(Musurillo, 23); Martyrdom of Pionius 8 (Musurillo, 147); Acts of
Cyprian 1 (Musurillo, 169); Martyrdom of Fructuosus 2 (Musurillo,
179).
11
For a more complete treatment of this issue, see William C. Weinrich,
Death and Martyrdom: An Important Aspect of Early Christian
Eschatology, Concordia Teological Quarterly 66.4 (2002): 3238.
13
of Christian martyrs. According to the Martyrdom of
Polycarp, the martyr is commanded: Swear [to the gods]
and I will let you go. Curse Christ. To this Polycarp
responds: For 86 years I have been his servant, and he
has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme against
my King and Savior?
12
In the Martyrdom of Apollonius
the martyr is commanded to sacrifce to the gods and to
the image of the emperor Commodus. When Apollonius
refuses, the proconsul says, I shall grant you a days time,
that you may take some thought about your life. Upon
Apollonius continuing refusal, the proconsul urges:
I advise you to change your mind and to venerate and
worship the gods, which we all venerate and worship, and
to continue to live among us. To this Apollonius says:
It is the God of the heavens whom I worship, and him
alone do I venerate, who breathed into all men a living
soul and daily pours life into all.
13
Finally, we mention a
third example. According to the Martyrdom of Pionius,
the presbyter Pionius is arrested and reminded of the
imperial edict that all should sacrifce to the gods. To this
Pionius replies: We are aware of the commandment of
God ordering us to worship him alone. To this response
of Pionius, Sabina and Asclepiades add their voices: We
obey the living God.
It is clear from these interchanges that the question in
play is this: Who has the power to give and to take away
life? Te Roman magistrates believe that such power lies
in their hands: Tey may stay the execution of Christians
and release them, or they may exact the punishment of
death. What does the Christian believe? In the moment
of decision/confession, the Christian must declare his
ultimate faith. Faith is directed either toward the gods,
or it is directed toward God the Creator. By refusing to
ofer sacrifce to the gods, the martyr rejects the claim of
the magistrates that they possess the power to give life.
Rather, in the refusal to live on the courts terms, the
martyr confesses that it is God the Creator, and He only,
who possesses the power to give and to take away life.
14

Te life that the magistrate ofers in exchange for sacrifce
to the gods is a verdict of death, for those gods are no gods
and have no life in them. Te gods, and indeed all earthly
12
Martyrdom of Polycarp 9 (Musurillo, 9).
13
Martyrdom of Apollonius 1013 (Musurillo, 93, 95).
14
From time to time the martyr will remind the human judge that his
authority is itself derived from God in whose hands alone all power
resides. Te judge, whatever his verdict, is a servant of God, and for that
reason how the judge disposes of his authority and power will become
an issue at his own judgment on the last day.
power, are intrinsically futile and empty when placed in
opposition to Him who is the Creator of all things. Tus,
when commanded to deny God and to disobey His will so
that one might claim oneself for the powers of futility, the
only response of one who is Christian is to acknowledge
ones freedom from such non-entities and ones free
allegiance to the God who truly is and who alone creates.
Tus, when the Roman proconsul demands of Apollonius
that he sacrifce to the gods so that he might continue to
live, Apollonius replies: I have become a man who fears
God so that I may not revere idols made with hands.
Terefore, I will not bow down to gold or silver, bronze
or iron, or before false gods made of stone or wood,
who can neither see nor hear; for these are but the work
of crafsmen, workers in gold and bronze; they are the
carving of men and have no life of their own.
15
Similarly,
when Carpus is commanded to sacrifce to the gods, he
responds: May the gods be destroyed who have not made
heaven and earth. Upon further pressure to sacrifce, he
says: Te living do not ofer sacrifce to the dead.
16

Idolatry is a form the dominion of death assumes, and
to worship dead idols is not to live but to succumb to the
power of death. When, therefore, the martyr willingly
receives the judgment of death from the hands of the
earthly power and takes this judgment upon himself in
martyrdom, he confesses that the one, true God is the
Creator who has given him life and will give him life again
in the resurrection of the dead. It is the deep paradox, it is
the deep truth of martyrdom that in it the real and proper
relationship between God and the world is revealed. Te
martyrs death witnesses to the fact that the only source of
mans life and hope is God Himself. Tus martyrdom, for
those who see, reveals the living God. In the Martyrdom
of Fructuosus, it is reported that afer his martyrdom,
the heavens were opened, revealing the bishop with his
deacons rising crowned up to heaven, with the stakes
to which they had been bound still intact. Te Roman
consul, Aemilianus, was summoned to see this as well:
Come and see how those whom you have condemned
15
Martyrdom of Apollonius 14 (Musurillo, 9495). Te translation of
this passage by Musurillo is inadequate: I am a pious man, and I may
not worship artifcial idols. Hence I do not bow before gold. We may
paraphrase the meaning as follows: Trough Baptism I have become
a man who reveres the true God. Tat has freed me from the false
reverence to gods made by hands, and so in no way am I now going to
bow down to such lifeless deities, as you command me to do. Te future
tense with double negative is the most forceful way to express a negative
in the Greek text: I will by no means bow down!
16
Martyrdom of Carpus 1012 (Musurillo, 2223, 2425).
to death today have been restored to heaven and to their
hopes. However we are told, When Aemilianus came, he
was not worthy to behold them.
17

According to Persecution.org, Bishop Tomas
of the Coptic Church recently said concerning the
contemporary period in Egypt, We are passing through
a dark tunnel of violence, feeling the grief of death and
injustice. But we are committed to the love that never
fails. We are pressed hard on every side, but not crushed.
Tis last sentence echoes the sentiment of the Apostle
Paul concerning his own apostolic suferings: We are
aficted in every way, but not crushed (2 Cor. 4:8). In
the New Testament the theme of imitating Christ in his
sufering and death is connected with sufering under
earthly powers and human opposition. 1 Peter 2:21 is
classic: For to this have you been called, because Christ
also sufered for you, leaving you an example, that
you should follow in his steps. Nowhere in the New
Testament is this idea more vivid than in Pauls refections
on his own apostolicity. Precisely because he was an
apostle his life was an icon of his preaching. When Paul
asserts, We preach Christ crucifed the power of God
and the Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:2324), he implies
that his life stands under that proclamation and is given
form by that proclamation. Tus, when against certain
detractors, Paul must defend his apostolicity, and he does
so by referencing his suferings for Christ. Consider these
remarkable statements of Paul (2 Cor. 4:911):
We are aficted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
bodies. For we who live are always being given over
17
Martyrdom of Fructuosus 5 (Musurillo, 183). Te paradox of
martyrdom that when one dies, in fact one has won the victory and so
lives is illustrated graphically in the Passion of Perpetua 10 (Musurillo,
118/19). In a vision Perpetua sees her own coming martyrdom. She
is wrestling with a huge Egyptian (the devil). Afer some struggle, I
[i.e. Perpetua] put my two hands together linking the fngers of one
hand with those of the other and thus I got hold of his head. He fell fat
on his face and I stepped on his head. Te crowd began to shout and
my assistants started to sing psalms. Ten I walked up to the trainer
and took the [victors] branch. He kissed me and said to me, Peace be
with you, my daughter! I began to walk in triumph towards the Gate
of Life (Porta Sanavivaria). Although depicted as a triumph, this is
evidently an account of Perpetuas death. She steps upon the head of the
Egyptian, a sign of his death and of her triumph. However, in the reality
of her martyrdom it is she who is killed. Her walking toward the Porta
Sanavivarium imitates the walk of those gladiators who had survived
their fght. But in the reality of her martyrdom she does not walk to the
Gate of Life in the arena but to the Gate of Life into heaven.
to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus also
may be manifested in our mortal fesh.
Paul directs our eyes to his fesh/body. To see in it the
marks of his sufering is to recognize him as an apostle
who for that reason is an image of the life of Christ.
18

Indeed, to speak of his suferings as an apostle Paul at
times adopts the language of Jesus passion. In 2 Cor.
12:710, Paul refers to his apostolic suferings as a thorn
in the fesh As did Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Paul asked three times that these suferings be removed
from him. To this the Lord said, My grace is sufcient
for you, for my power reaches its goal in weakness.
Behind such statements lies the conviction of Paul that
the cross of Jesus is the form of the apostolic life. Sufering
for Jesus is not merely the result of adverse fate or of the
unlucky circumstance of being in the wrong place at
the wrong time. It is the calling of the apostle to be the
image of the Crucifed in the world (Acts 9:16). When,
therefore, the church confesses herself to be apostolic,
she acknowledges this fact to be true as well as of her own
sojourn in the world. If the church is apostolic, then she is
martyrological as well.
19

Of course, this does not mean that every Christian
will be called upon to sufer rejection, persecution or
martyrdom. Yet, this does not give us leave to ameliorate
the demands of being baptized into the death and
resurrection of Christ. Perhaps no Lutheran thinker
refected more deeply upon the condescension of Christ
than did Hermann Bezzel, the successor of Wilhelm
Loehe at the diaconal institute in Neuendettelsau. For
Bezzel, the Lords words to Paul, My power is perfected
in weakness, was not only a hermeneutical perspective
for interpreting the whole of the Scriptures. It was also a
by-word for that service to which all Christians are called.
Tat [passage] is in reality the rubric which stands over
the life of Jesus. It expresses the mystery of His person
whereby the Almighty makes Himself known and gives
18
In 2 Cor. 11:2333 Paul lists his suferings at the hands of his
persecutors. Interestingly, the literary form he adopts for this is that
of the res gestae which was commonly used to praise the victories of
a king or emperor. Tus, Pauls various suferings are (paradoxically)
interpreted as his victories! In the literature of martyrdom Christians
ofen saw in the sufering martyr the image of the cross or of Christ. In
the Letter of the Lyons Martyrs the holy Blandina was hung on a post
and exposed as bait for the wild animals that were let loose on her. She
seemed to hang there in the form of a cross. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5.1.41
[Musurillo, 7475].
19
Here it is well to be reminded that Christology, apostolicity and
ecclesiology are mutually inherent. Te apostle was an image of Christ,
and the church is an image of the apostle (see 1 Tess. 1:510).
15
himself as one who is weak and humble. Tat which
is small in power, that power which perfects itself in
weakness, is not a power in and of itself; it is not a power
which is self-consciously a power. Rather, such a power
achieves something only if God adopts it as his own.
20

When Jesus, sorrowful even to death, prays to his Father
to remove the cup of sufering from him, he nonetheless
places himself under the will of the Father: Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as You will (Matt. 26:39). Te Gospel
of John presents us with Jesus as he who has received the
Fathers reply, and so he sets himself to do the Fathers will:
Now is my soul troubled. But what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour. Father, glorify your name. (John 12:2728).
To live according to the cross is to do the Fathers will.
In the Lords Prayer we are taught to pray: Your will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. When upon the cross
Jesus says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!
(Luke 23:46), he reveals how Gods will is done: Faith
committing ones life to God doing Gods will. Tese
are but diferent ways of saying the same thing. Terefore,
in his First Letter the Apostle Peter adopts these words of
Jesus in order to exhort Christians under duress to faithful
and holy living: Terefore, let those who sufer according
to Gods will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful
Creator while doing good (1 Peter 4:19). Christian faith
is essentially ascetic. It knows that the things of this
world are but temporary and feeting. To place ones hope
on them is to lose sight of that which abides. Tus, the
entirety of the Christian life is to be, as it were, a bloodless
martyrdom, faith lived through a hope which lies in God.
Te simple Christians of Scilla sufered in the second
century. Yet, Christian preaching kept them in memory.
In the early ffh century, Saint Augustine preached on
their anniversary. But of what relevance was the story
to his audience? Augustine knew that the time of overt
persecution was in the past. Te Roman Empire in which
his congregation lived was now Christian in conviction
and habit: Tere is no persecutor raging, no plunderer
despoiling, no torturer working on you. Yet, says
Augustine, many are adopting the necessities of life as well
as the superfuities of life as their persecutors: How many
evil deeds are committed as if for the sake of necessities,
for food, for clothing, for health, for a friend; and all these
20
Tese are words interpreting Bezzel by Manfred Seitz (Hermann
Bezzel: Teologie-Darstellung-Form seiner Verkndigung [Mnchen:
Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1960], 161 (my translation). Tis book is an
excellent introduction and presentation of Bezzels theology.
things which are being desired are in fact being lost. But
if you make light of these things in the present, God will
give you them for eternity. Make light of health, you will
have immortality; make light of death, you will have life;
make light of honor, you will have a crown; make light
of the friendship of man, you will have the friendship of
God. As the holy martyrs preferred to live by dying, in
order not to die by living, as the holy martyrs despised
life by loving life, so the Christian in his/her daily life
is to live the life of Christ by despising the things of the
world: Do you seek well-being? Make light of it, and you
shall have it. You deny Christ, being afraid of spoiling
your friendship with men; confess Christ, and you will
enjoy the friendship of the city of the angels, the city of
the patriarchs, the city of the prophets, the city of the
apostles, the city of all the martyrs, the city of all the good
faithful. Christ himself established it forever (Ps. 48:8).
21
Augustine used the self-denial of the Christian
martyr as a paradigm for the daily life of all Christians.
Martyrdom is in the frst instance not an event but a
spiritual habitus. It is a stance toward the world as that
which is temporary and secondary and toward God as
He who is Lord and Savior. Within this habitus lies the
confession: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker
of heaven and earth. Indeed, this spiritual habitus is itself
the instantiation of the confession: God has made me.
To prepare our people for the coming strife, we must
teach them to be Christians so that they may, with robust
faith and in a living hope, confess and say, Christianus
sum.
Te Rev. Dr. William Weinrich is professor of Historical
Teology and former academic dean at Concordia
Teological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
21
Augustine, Sermon 299D On the Birthday of the Holy Scillitan
Martyrs (WSA III/8:256262).
Greetings
to the Fifth International Lutheran Council
Seminaries Conference
Aug. 811, 2013, Palanga, Lithuania
by Hans-Jrg Voigt
We are saved from slavery to
the world by the outstretched
arms of Christ Jesus.
M
y dear brothers in Christ, it is a special
honor for me to greet you, the leaders of the
Confessional Lutheran Seminaries Con-
ference, on behalf of the International Lutheran Council
(ILC) and the ILC Executive Committee. I greet you with
Is. 26:12: In that day this song will be sung in the land
of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as
walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous na-
tion that keeps faith may enter in.
Last Sundays readings remind us of Jerusalem and
the people of God. Persecution and sufering are part of
the life of Gods people, and the Old
Testament perspective teaches that
very clearly. Terefore, Gods people
are seeking a strong city fortifed with
walls and bulwarks. Tere is safety
only in the city of God.
Jesus teaches us: I am the door. If
anyone enters by Me, he will be saved
(John 10:9). In the Gothic Cathedral
of Naumburg, a small city south of
Leipzig, there is a marvelous choir
screen. It separates the nave from the choir. In the middle
of the choir screen, there is a small gate that is formed
by a sculptured crucifxion of Christ. As you enter the
choir toward the altar chancel, you must pass under the
outstretched arms of Christ the crucifed.
Tat is, of course, the message of the Gospel: We are
saved from slavery to the world by the outstretched arms
of Christ Jesus, entering into the celestial Jerusalem by
Baptism. Tus, all our persecutions and suferings are
merely preliminary; weve passed through!
I am personally interested in the subject and theme
of your conference. Growing up in
East Germany under the Communist
regime, I can well understand the
situation that prevailed in the Baltic
states, in Russia and Belorussia.
May God richly bless this Fifh
International Lutheran Council
Seminaries Conference in the
presence of Him who said, I am the
gate, and who has protected us by
His outstretched arms. Tank you.
Te Rev. Hans-Jrg Voigt is bishop of Germanys
Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) and the
chairman of the International Lutheran Council.
Persecution
and suffering
are part of the
life of Gods
people.
17
Sub Cruce Revelata: The Cross
as a Mark of the Church
An Exegetical Perspective
by Roberto E. Bustamante
How do the Scriptures
answer the tough questions
when it comes to the topic
of sufering?
Introduction
O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your
people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should
the Egyptians say, With evil intent did he bring them out,
to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from
the face of the earth? (Ex. 32:1112)
Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over
the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites,
to destroy us? (Joshua 7:7)
Why did I not die at birth, come out
from the womb and expire? Why did the
knees receive me? Or why the breasts,
that I should nurse? (Job 3:1112)
O God, why do you cast us of forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the
sheep of your pasture? (Psalm 74:1)
Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
(Hab.1:3)
Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (Matt.
27:46)
S
uffering always retains its scandalous side. It
always demands an answer to its intrinsic why?
Ancient polytheists solved the problem by dividing
their pantheon into good and evil gods. Te problem of
theodicy becomes a serious one, when Gottfried Leibnizs
four premises meet one another: where (1) there is just
one God (2) who represents goodness and justice, and
where (3) Gods power in this world and (4) sufering are
taken to be real.1 Te picture can get even worse: how
to answer the theodician questions (i.e., Why? How is it
possible?), when the ones who sufer are those who have
already entered the eschatological sphere of salvation (i.e.,
the Church)?
Te theme of our convention moves around what
Martin Luther did with this problem in his 1539 writing
Von den Consiliis und Kirchen (On the Councils and the
Church[es].
1
Luther not only accepts the Churchs suf-
fering as a possibility or a fact, but he even lifs it up to
the constitutive category of mark of the Church (nota
ecclesiae), that is to say: sufering, persecution and mar-
tyrdom, together with the other six previous marks, allow
the poor confused person
2
to know what, who, and
where the Church is.
3
Is that not too much?
Lets examine the question of the
sufering of the Church from a bib-
lical perspective. Even though as
it will become evident in my treat-
ment of the topic I consider the
Old Testament canon to be founda-
tional in this regard, I will reduce
my approach to the New Testament
canon, and this, to be honest, is due
to my scholarly limitations. Another
narrowing down of my focus relates
to the not-always-recognized difer-
ence between the apostles sufering (qua apostles) and
the Churchs sufering. Tough certainly related, these
are diferent aspects of sufering not to be confused. Te
apostles stand in persona Christi vis--vis the Church,
even with respect to their suferings that, as with the
Church, constitute their own distinctive marks. Tis will
leave outside the scope of our work cherished texts such
as 2 Cor. 1:37; 11:2112:21; Phil. 3:1011; or Col. 1:24
29; and other texts in which Paul deals with his apostolic
1
Martin Luther. On the Councils and the Church(es) in: Luthers
Works, Vol. 41: Church and Ministry, eds. Eric W. Gritsch and Helmut T.
Lehmann (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1966), 9178.
2
Ibid, 41, 148.
3
Ibid, 41, 143.
[The Scriptures]
provide perspective on
our suffering within
the context of our
participation in Christs
own storied-with-
suffering body.
19
status and experience. Afer this Marcion-like mutilating
use of the knife, I better begin to use my pen, lest I fall
under Tertullians accusation.
4
Tis commentary considers three narratives into
which the New Testament authors frame their account of
the Churchs sufering (sections 24). Far from exhaust-
ing the topic, we open three of the several doors that give
us an entrance into the multifaceted drama that frames
our sufering within the context of salvation. Tis, I hope,
will help us to have at least a provisional grasp of how
Scriptures handle our hard theodician questions while
providing perspective on Luthers understanding of how
the holy cross coheres with the New Testament account
(section 5).
Suffering as Participation in Christs Own Story
18
If the world hates you, know that it has hated
me before it hated you ( ,
).
19
If
you were of the world, the world would love you
as its own; but because you are not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you.
20
Remember the word that I said
to you: A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you
( , ). If they kept
my word, they will also keep yours.
21
But all these
things they will do to you on account of my name,
because they do not know him who sent me. (John
15:1821)
Te fnal arrival of Jesus hour (John 13:1), long
expected throughout the narrative of the Fourth Gospel,
inaugurates a new focus of attention in Jesus discourse.
Now, for the frst time, it is the experience of the disciples
during and afer the hour that constitutes the content
of Jesus extended speech, acts and prayer.
5
In line with
the wisdom tradition in which it is rooted, our farewell
discourse anchors prophetic announcements and exhor-
tations in connection with both mediate and immediate
future experience upon the solid ground of a set of reaf-
4
Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, in: Te Apostolic Fathers with
Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Te Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, eds.
Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (Bufalo,
NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885) 4:38, 1:521. Tertullian.
Te Five Books Against Marcion, in: Latin Christianity: Its Founder,
Tertullian, Te Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3, eds. Alexander Roberts,
James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (Bufalo, NY: Christian
Literature Company, 1885) Bk. 4, Ch. 12, 3:363.
5
Gail R. ODay. Te Gospel of John in: Te New Interpreters Bible,
Vol. 9 (Nashville TN: Abingdon Press, 1994), 762.
frmations of Jesus identity and the disciples intimacy
with him. Now, what Jesus announces here is not a mere
possibility but a certain fact, for the simple reason the
disciples experience of opposition is nothing else than
their insertion into an already well-established cosmic
confrontation between Jesus and the world on account of
the worlds ignorance and rejection of the sending Father.
6

Tis defnes the Churchs sufering not only within a
Christological matrix ( v. 21), just as
St. Augustine articulates it: Tey will hate me in you, they
will persecute me in you, and your word, just because it is
mine,
7
, but also in the Trinitarian confict with the world
( v. 21), just as John
Chrysostom puts it: Te Father also is insulted together
with them.
8
Another paradigmatic text that locates the sufering
of the Church within the narrative plot of Jesus own
sufering is the Synoptic discourse on the cost of the
discipleship:
34
And calling the crowd to him with his disci-
ples, He said to them, If anyone would come afer
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me ( ,

).
35
For whoever would
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for my sake and the gospels will save it (

).
36
For what does it proft
a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
37
For what can a man give in return for his soul?
38

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in
this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will
the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in
the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark
8:3438 )
Here, the Churchs sufering as participation in
Christs story is set into the frame of this absolutely
6
Ramsey J. Michaels. 1 Peter in: World Biblical Commentary, Vol. 49
(Waco, TX: Word Books, 2010), 821.
7
Saint Augustine of Hippo. Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel
According to St. John, in: St. Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John,
Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies, A Select Library of the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series,
Vol. 7, ed. Philip Schaf, trans. John Gibb and James Innes (New York:
Christian Literature Company, 1888), Tractate 88, Ch. 2, 7:356.
8
Saint John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel of Saint John and
the Epistle to the Hebrews, in: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First
Series, Vol. 14 (Peabody Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995), 283.
radical and inescapable demand. Nobody is lef aside
(
v. 34; / vv. 35, 38), and nothing is lef aside,
since ones whole existence is at stake (

; v. 36). Te cross that the multitude
is summoned to take up ( v.
34), far from being a mere metaphor for common dai-
ly-life problems, has the concrete entailment of the actual
wooden machine with which the Roman Empire publicly
eliminated and warned against political and social prob-
lems.
9
Tat is to say, following Him (
v. 34) is of one piece with the con-
crete and deadly consequences of bearing witness of Him
and His words in the midst of this adulterous and sinful
world (
v. 35).
Now, the fact that our text (Mark 8:3438) is still part
of the Christological confrontation between Jesus and
Peter (Mark 8:3133) notice that it is Jesus who makes
this unmediated shif from messiahship to discipleship
preventing us from reducing Marks account of the
sufering of the Church to a mere moralistic trajectory,
in line with Tomas Kempis Imitatio Christi or Peter
Abelards subjective atonement.
10
Te grave summons to
sufer can only be uttered within the bigger picture of the
gratuitous insertion of the disciples as the third link in a
chain that does not and cannot belong to them by their
own right, but that is given just by divine initiative. Im
referring to the pattern that moves the Markan narrative
ahead by linking Jesus destiny to that of John the Bap-
tist (the one who is sent Mark 1:2),
and the disciples destiny to that of Jesus, who not only
9
Eugene M. Boring. Mark: A Commentary (London: Te New
Testament Library, Westminster, John Knox Press, 2006), 244.
10
Gustaf Auln. Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Tree Main
Types of the Idea of the Atonement (New York: Macmillan, 1951). David
B. Capes. Imitatio Christi and the Gospel Genre, in: Bulletin for
Biblical Research, 13/1:119, 2003. Jason B. Hood. Te Cross in the
New Testament: Two Tesis in Conversation with Recent Literature in:
Westminster Teological Journal Vol. 71, 2009, 281295.
Mk. 1:113 Mk 1:145:43 Mk 610 Mk 1115 Mk 16
John the Baptist Preaching Persecution
(arrest)
Death
Jesus Preaching Persecution
(arrest)
Death Resurrection
Disciples Preaching Persecution
(announced)
Time to face
death?
sufers and dies like John, but also inaugurates a further
chapter of the story that goes even beyond death (
Mark
14:28; 16:7).
Our sharing in this story cannot take place through a
mere obedient imitation,
11
not even through the dynamic
correlation between the penultimate gif of conformatio
Christi and the still ultimate category of Imitatio Christi.
12

Our sharing in this story can only come to us as a gif (als
ehn gabe und gechenck). Only then, when you have
Christ as the foundation and chief blessing of your sal-
vation, then the other part follows: that you take him as
your example, give yourself in service to your neighbor
just as you see that Christ has given himself for you.
13
But, how is it that the Church has a share in some-
one elses historical
events (i.e., Jesus suf-
ferings)? Te ghosts
of a medieval Chri-
stomysticism and a
Romanticist/Idealist
empathy with Christ
lurk around for our
modern-shaped way of doing exegesis, in which the only
possibilities remaining are the human factors either of
the rebellious worlds obstinacy in mistreating us, just as
they did Christ, or of the Churchs masochistic obsession
with reproducing Christs stigmata. Te New Testament
has a diferent answer to that question. Te Church par-
ticipates in Christs storied-with-sufering body through
sacramental mediation. For it is the water and blood that
sprang out of the Crucifeds side (
John 19:34) at the precise moment when the
Church was being founded (John 19:2627)
14
with which
we are baptized into His death and resurrection (
Rom. 6:34), into that
storied-with-sufering body (
1 Cor. 12:13) , as we are given a share
in that one sufering and risen body, in spite of us being
11
Tomas Kempis. Te Imitation of Christ (Macon GA: Mercer
University Press, 1989). Michaels, 262.
12
Dietrich Bonhoefer. Te Cost of Discipleship (New York: MacMillan,
1963), 44.
13
Martin Luther. A Brief Instruction On What To Look For And
Expect In Te Gospels in: Luthers Works, Vol. 35: Word and Sacrament,
eds. E. Teodore Bachmann and Helmut T. Lehamnn (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1960), 120.
14
R. Aland Culpepper. Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in
Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), 134.
21
many ( 1 Cor.
10:1617).
Suffering as
4
In your struggle against sin you have not yet
resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5
And
have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses
you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the dis-
cipline of the Lord ( ), nor be weary
when reproved by him ( ).
6
For the Lord disciplines () the one he
loves, and chastises () every son whom
he receives.
7
It is for discipline that you have to
endure ( ). God is treating
you as sons. For what son is there whom his father
does not discipline ()?
8
If you are lef
without discipline (), in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children
and not sons.
9
Besides this, we have had earthly
fathers who disciplined () us and we
respected them. Shall we not much more be sub-
ject to the Father of spirits and live ( )?
10
For they disciplined () us for a short
time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines
us for our good, that we may share his holiness
( ).
11
For
the moment all discipline () seems painful
rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peace-
ful fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it (
) (Heb.
12:411).
Tere is a second type of narrative that we want to
consider here, with which the New Testament frames the
sufering of the Church, and that moves along the lines
of Jewish wisdom tradition. Wisdom tradition, already
highly-developed during the time of the Old Testament,
became a critical element during the exile in redefning
Israels religion, now without its temple and its rituals.
15
A
particular characteristic of wisdom tradition is its down-
to-earth understanding of reality, especially in terms of
its epistemology and its moral pragmatism.
16
Tough
the pious or righteous life is undoubtedly understood as
15
R.E. Clements. Wisdom and Old Testament Teology in: Wisdom
in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honour of J. A. Emerton (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1995), 273281.
16
Gerhard Von Rad. Wisdom in Israel (London/Valley Forge: SCM
Press Ltd/Trinity Press International, 1972), 6979.
coram deo, the main quest is how to live out this life in the
world.
17
In spite of the current revision of the traditional
compartmentalization of categories,
18
this makes an
important distinction between the sage and the apocalyp-
tic prophet, when dealing with the problem of sufering.
To use James Voelz models, the sage will tend to approach
the topic from a Newtonian perspective (coherent with
everyday life), while the apocalypticist will do this from
an Einsteinian perspective (beyond phenomenological
perception).
19
Elaborating on the Greek text of Prov. 3:1112, our
text (Heb. 12:311) rehearses the sufering story of the
readers precisely in these sapiential terms. Our sufering
is not a sign of dishonor
20
nor of having been abandoned
by our God.
21
Te opposite is precisely the truth: God is
acting with us as a loving father who disciplines his sons
out of sheer love ( v. 6),
to train us in our proper relation with him as a father (
,
v. 7), and to shape us so we can live out the heavenly
inheritance that was already won by our High Priest,
Jesus Christ (
v. 10;
v. 11).
Particularly since the groundbreaking work of Charles
Talbert and N. Clayton Croy,
22
there is a strong schol-
arly consensus regarding the non-punitive character our
text ascribes to the sufering of the readers. Rather than
being a correcting or chastising law (notice that the
punitive verbs in Proverbs, and , are
lef untouched)
23
, the readers are to read their sufer-
ings as the evangelical indicative with which their father
17
James L. Crenshaw. Education In Ancient Israel: Across the Deadening
Silence (New York: Doubleday, 1998), p. 52. Craig G. Bartholomew
and Ryan P. ODowd. Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Teological
Introduction (Downers Grove: IVP Academic. Nottingham: Apollos,
2011), 2428.
18
Benjamin G. Wright III and Lawrence M. Wills. Conficted
Boundaries in Wisdom and Apocalypticism, SBL Symposium Series
(Atlanta GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005).
19
James Voelz. Reading Scripture as Lutherans in the Post-Modern
Era, in: Lutheran Quarterly Vol. 14, 2000, 309326.
20
David A. DeSilva. Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical
Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids MI:
Eerdmans, 2000), 447450.
21
Chrysostom, 499500.
22
Charles Talbert (1991) and N. Clayton Croy (1998). Learning Trough
Sufering: Te Educational Value of Sufering on the New Testament and
in Its Milieu (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998).
23
Gareth L. Cockerill. Te Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids MI:
Eerdmands, 2012), 617.
afrms and establishes them as his sons.
24
Tis, how-
ever, is not always the case. Notice, for instance, 1 Cor.
11:2731 ( [] ,
v. 32) and Rev.
3:19 (
) use the same kind of wisdom approach
to the Churchs sufering precisely due to the necessity of
repentance of sin.
Suffering as Messianic Woes
Jewish apocalypticists came to learn from the prophets
and their own experience that this present eon is not all
there is. Another era will be opened when Yahweh will
fnally manifest His justice, vindicating His sufering
righteous (the people of Israel), and condemning the
sinners (the wicked nations and those in Israel that did
not remain pure.
25
One particular feature of this apoca-
lyptic understanding of reality is the so-called Messianic
Woes ( ).
26
Te story under this motif goes
like this: In the very last days, there will be a great trib-
ulation upon the earth: sickness, and downfall ... and
fever, and chills, and stupor, and famine, and death, and
sword, and captivity, and all plagues, and sufering (Jubi-
lees 23:13). For some apocalypticists, only the pagans will
sufer; for others, both the nations (as the beginning of
their fnal sufering) and Israel will (as a way to purge and
test her.
27
In this last case, however, Yahweh provides some
kind of special protection for His people.
28
In any case, the
main function of the woes will be to mark and anticipate
the imminent appearance of the Messiah, thus the labels
Messianic woes or birth pangs of the Messiah.
29
Tis is the milieu in which Christianity was born.
30

Together with several other features, Jesus and the apos-
24
Ibid, 623.
25
David E. Aune. Revelation 616 in Word Biblical Commentary, Vol.
52b (Nashville: Tomas Nelson Publishers, 1987), pp. 227231. Charles
K. Barrett. Te New Testament Background: Writings from Ancient
Greece and the Roman Empire Tat Illuminate Christian Origins (San
Francisco: Harper Collins, 1989), 317344.
26
Mark Dubis. Messianic Woes in First Peter: Sufering and
Eschatology in 1 Peter 4:1219, in Studies in Biblical Literature, Vol. 33
(New York: Peter Lang, 2002), 613.
27
Dale C. Allison, Dale C. Te End of the Ages Has Come: An Early
Interpretation of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus (Philadelphia PA:
Fortress Press, 1985), 1922.
28
Dubis, 17071.
29
Gza Verms. Te Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (New York:
Allen Lane/Te Penguin Press, 1997), 259.
30
Frederick J. Murphy. Apocalypticism in the Bible and Its World: A
Comprehensive Introduction (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Academic, 2012),
227.
tles reshaped the apocalyptic motif of the Messianic Woes
to ft into their account of the eschatological suferings of
the Church. A major shif in the Christian version of the
Messianic Woes, as immediately will be seen, is that it is
Jesus, the very Messiah, who inaugurates and becomes
the primordial object of the eschatological suferings.
Te Church will certainly sufer together with the sinful
world, but her end-time experience will be patterned afer
the paradigmatic sufering of Golgotha. Tis, I think,
makes our third narrative a particular (apocalyptic) form
of the frst narrative, i.e. sufering as participation in
Christs own story.
Let us consider three New Testament accounts of the
sufering of the Church shaped as Messianic Woes.
4
Tell us, when will these things be, and what will
be the sign when all these things are about to be
accomplished?
5
And Jesus began to say to them,
See that no one leads you astray (
).
6
Many will come in my name,
saying, I am he! and they will lead many astray.
7
And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars,
do not be alarmed. Tis must take place, but the
end is not yet ( ).
8
For nation will
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Tere will be earthquakes in various places; there
will be famines. Tese are but the beginning of the
birth pains ( ).
9
But be on your
guard ( ). For they will
deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten
in synagogues, and you will stand before gover-
nors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before
them.
10
And the gospel must frst be proclaimed
to all nations.
11
And when they bring you to trial
and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand
what you are to say, but say whatever is given you
in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the
Holy Spirit.
12
And brother will deliver brother over
to death, and the father his child, and children will
rise against parents and have them put to death.
13
And you will be hated by all for my names sake
(
). But the one who endures to the end will be
saved ( ).
18
Pray that it may not happen in winter.
19
For in
those days there will be such tribulation as has not
been from the beginning (
) of the creation that God cre-
ated until now, and never will be.
20
And if the Lord
23
had not cut short the days, no human being would
be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he
chose, he shortened the days (
).
24
But in those days, afer that tribulation (
), the sun will be darkened, and the
moon will not give its light
25
and the stars will be
falling from heaven, and the powers in the heav-
ens will be shaken.
26
And then they will see the
Son of Man coming (
) in clouds with great power
and glory.
27
And then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect (
[]) from the four winds, from the ends of the
earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark
13:413, 1920, 2427)
Te Synoptic Jesus pronounces
this eschatological discourse as a
response to his disciples questions
( and v. 4). But
more than that, this discourse works
as a strong warning ( vv.
5, 9, 23, 33; v. 33;
vv. 35, 36) and prom-
ise to them ( v. 7;
v. 11;
v. 20;
v. 27).
A striking feature in the text is its Christological
matrix. In line with any apocalyptic discourse, Jesus
does articulate a timetable in response the -ques-
tion (v. 4), though not to nurture their speculation, but
rather to excise it ( vv. 33, 35), so that
they may do what they must watch! ( v.
33; vv. 35, 36). Eugene Boring points out
that the same four Roman watches of the night (
v. 35) that
structure Jesus apocalyptic understanding of history are
the time-markers of the passion narrative in Mark.
31
Tis
is not it is clear a mere coincidence, but it bespeaks
that the remaining history of the world will be a deploy-
ment of the Paschal event. Now, what is more signifcant
for our purpose here, is that not only the structure of
worlds history will have this Christological pattern, but
31
Boring, 377.
notably the Churchs sufering will:
32
as anointed with the
same Baptism, they also will have to bear witness in the
power of the Spirit and will be rejected, betrayed, handed
over by friends and family, and hated to the point of death
(vv. 913). What this deployment (exitus) of the Gospel
narrative in the Churchs experience of sufering will
yearn for is the fnal Eucharistic recollection (reditus) of
the elects into the coming Messiah (

v. 27).
Our second text is 1 Peter 4:1219:
12
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fery trial
( ) when it comes upon you to
test you ( ), as though some-
thing strange were happening to
you.
13
But rejoice insofar as you
share Christs suferings (

), that you may
also rejoice and be glad when
his glory is revealed (

). 14 If
you are insulted for the name of
Christ, you are blessed (),
because the Spirit of glory and of
God rests upon you.
15
But let none of you sufer as
a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
16
Yet if anyone sufers as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
17

For it is time for judgment to begin at the house-
hold of God ( []
); and if it begins with us (
), what will be the outcome for
those who do not obey the gospel of God? (
;)
18

And If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will
become of the ungodly and the sinner?
19
Tere-
fore let those who sufer according to Gods will
entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing
good. (1 Peter 4:1219)
32
C. Clifon Black. Mark (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011), p. 274.
Boring, 365.
The Church will
certainly suffer together
with the sinful world,
but her end-time
experience will be
patterned after the
paradigmatic suffering
of Golgotha.
Rather recently, Abson P. Joseph
33
rejected Mark
Dubis understanding
34
of our particular text, under
the motif of the Messianic Woes, as an overstatement.
Joseph proposes, instead, to read it simply as an apostolic
exhortation to imitate Christ. I think that Dubis approach
makes better sense not only of the Churchs participa-
tion in Christs suferings (
v. 13), but notably of the fact that the read-
ers are supposed to expect these suferings to come, and
fnally of the particular dynamic with which Peter chains
the Churchs sufering with the fnal judgment that will
fall upon those who do not obey the Gospel (vv. 1718).
35
Te Churchs sufering under this apocalyptic per-
spective is not only a must, but is also the evangelical
way our defnite and end-time relation to each of the
Trinitarian person is forged in anticipation, and this in
terms of refnement ( v. 12);
joyful participation in his glory (,
v.
13); empowerment with the Spirit of the Messiah; proper
worship to our God ( v. 16);
and trust in the Creators power and faithfulness (
v. 19).
Te last text to consider is the combat drama of Reve-
lation 12.
36
Again, we will reproduce just part of the text,
following David Aunes narrative structure:
37
INTRODUCTION OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONAE: THE
WOMAN AND THE DRAGON
1
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman
clothed with the sun, with the moon under her
feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2
She
was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains
and the agony of giving birth (
).
3
And another sign
appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon,
with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads
seven diadems.
FIRST STAGE CONFLICT: BIRTH AND ESCAPE
4b
And the dragon stood before the woman who
was about to give birth, so that when she bore her
child he might devour it (
33
Abson P. Joseph. A Narratological Reading of 1 Peter (Library of New
Testament Studies, London: T & T Clark International, 2012), 115117.
34
Dubis.
35
Ibid., 142162.
36
Adela Yarbro Collins. Te Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation
(Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976).
37
Aune, 657661.
).
5
She gave birth to a male child,
one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron,
but her child was caught up () to God and
to his throne,
6
and the woman fed into the wilder-
ness ( ), where she has a place
prepared by God ( ), in
which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
SECOND STAGE CONFLICT: DEFEAT AND EXPULSION
7
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels
fghting against the dragon. And the dragon and
his angels fought back,
8
but he was defeated, and
there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9
And the great dragon was thrown down to the
earth ( ), and his angels were
thrown down with him.
INTERPRETATIVE HYMN: REJOICE AND WOE!
10
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now
the salvation and the power and the kingdom of
our God and the authority of his Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown
down, who accuses them day and night before
our God
12
Terefore, rejoice (), O
heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to
you (), O earth and sea, for the devil has come
down to you in great wrath, because he knows that
his time is short (
, )!
THIRD STAGE CONFLICT: FINAL ATTACK
13
And when the dragon saw that he had been
thrown down to the earth (
), he pursued the woman who
had given birth to the male child (
).
14
But the woman
was given the two wings of the great eagle so that
she might fy from the serpent into the wilder-
ness, to the place where she is to be nourished for
a time, and times, and half a time.
15
Te serpent
poured water like a river out of his mouth afer the
woman, to sweep her away with a food.
16
But the
earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth
opened its mouth and swallowed the river that
the dragon had poured from his mouth.
17
Ten
the dragon became furious with the woman (
) and went of to
make war on the rest of her ofspring (

), on those who keep the commandments of
25
God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Te identity of the woman has been a subject of con-
tention throughout the centuries: Is she Eve, Mary, the
true Israel, or the Church? Tat she is the one who begets
the Messiah (v. 5) and that she condenses clear elements
of the primordial stories of Paradise (vv. 12, 1415, 17)
and Exodus (vv. 6, 1416) are uncontestable facts. Now,
though the continuity among these fgures should not be
broken, there is a common consensus that, at least afer
the Messiahs birth and rapture (v. 5), the woman who
sufers the Dragons attack is the Church.
38
Adela Yarbro Collins rightly points out that John
combines here two combat dramas: the heavenly one,
between Michael and the Dragon (vv. 79), and the
earthly one, between the Dragon and the woman, as pre-
sented in stages 1 (vv. 4b6) and 3 (vv. 1317).
39
Yarbro
Collins, however, misses the point regarding the dramatic
efect the insertion of the heavenly combat has on the
whole narrative.
40
Te Dragons renewed attack on the
woman (stage 3) is not a mere literary device to introduce
Chapter 13. In the third stage confict, the seer precisely
interprets the readers present suferings in terms of the
eschatological attack of the Dragon upon the Church.
Of special interest is how the narrative elaborates on the
reasons for this attack. Tree reasons are mentioned: (1)
the Dragons awareness of his recent and crucial defeat
( v. 13); (2)
the Dragons awareness of his impending fnal and defn-
itive defeat ( v. 13); and
(3) the Dragons wrath for his continual failures (
v. 12;
v. 17). Terefore, the
intensity of the eschatological suferings of the Church
signals the shortage of the devils time (
v. 12) and, it is clear, the imminence of Gods fnal
vindication of his people. Te Church is to be aware of
the coming hardship ( v. 12b), while also facing
her sufering in joyful celebration for the victory that the
Lamb already obtained over our accuser (
v. 10; v. 12a),
in expectancy for the impending end (
v. 12b), in confdence in Gods miraculous protection
( v. 6;
38
Aune, p. 707. Louis A. Brighton. Revelation (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1999), p. 327. Robert H. Mounce. Te Book of
Revelation. (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmands, 1997), 24.
39
Yarbro Collins, 101155.
40
Ibid, 143144.
v. 14;
v. 16), and in courageous
holding to the testimony of Jesus (
v. 17).
Conclusions
We have considered three narratives the New Testament
uses to tell the story of the Churchs sufering. Tey pro-
vide perspective on our sufering within the context of our
participation in Christs own storied-with-sufering body,
the Fathers assuming us as His children in the act of dis-
ciplining us, and the Churchs expectant Messianic Woes.
What do these narratives stand for? What is their
intended pragmatic efect upon the Church in the midst
of her stories of sorrow and fragility? John Searles taxon-
omy of illocutionary acts will help us to understand this
in terms of speech-act theory.
41
(1) Inasmuch as assertive acts, the sufering narratives
shape/inform the Churchs understanding of reality. In tell-
ing the stories, the divine storytellers illuminate the faiths
view of the sufering Church that now can realize all that
is in, with, and under her shameful weakness, her painful
absences, her deathful aporias. Tough here we attend to
Gods silencing our reason, we do have God uttering his
reasons, calling good what in fact is good.
42
And this
makes our narratives inasmuch assertive acts theodic-
ies. What kind of theodicies are these? Using Antti Laato
and Johannes Moors typology of theodicy, even though
all the New Testament narratives we have considered fall
under the category of deferred theodicy (the human mind
is unable to fathom the mysterious working of the divine
mind), I consider they roughly correspond to the three
following categories respectively: communion theodicy
(sufering can bring human beings closer to God), edu-
cative theodicy (the suferer gains a better understanding
of his life through his personal sufering), and escha-
togical theodicy (later developments would prove that
human sufering had not been in vain).
43
(2) Inasmuch as directive acts, the sufering narratives
41
John R. Searle. A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts, in: Language,
Mind and Knowledge: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science,
ed. Keith Gunderson (Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press,
1975), 1220.
42
Martin Luther. Heidelberg Disputation in: Luthers Works, Vol. 31:
Career of the Reformer, eds. Harold J. Grimm and Helmut T. Lehamnn
(Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1957), 53.
43
Antti Laato and Johannes C. de Moor. Introduction, in: Teodicy in
the World of the Bible, (Leiden/Boston Mass: Brill, 2003) viiliv.
shape/direct the Churchs performance within reality. In
telling the stories, the divine storytellers instruct the suf-
fering Church how to react, behave, and position herself
toward the painful facts and the Triune persons that stand
behind those facts. Tat is to say, the narratives guide the
Church to relate to her reality and her God in terms of
to mention just some features humility, repentance,
trust, hope, joy, obedience, endurance, and witness.
(3) Inasmuch as declarative acts, the sufering narra-
tives shape/direct the Churchs very reality. In telling the
stories, the Divine Storyteller creates what He says. Since
God Himself is the one who tells the story, the very utter-
ance of these narratives incorporates us in each plot as
participants in Christs destiny, as adopted children of our
loving Father who shapes us as His heirs, as the escha-
tological people of God who experience in their own
bodies the imminence of the fnal deliverance. Te Jesuit
John ODonnell proposes that the merit of Hans Urs von
Balthasars trinitarian theology is that he roots every nar-
rative of sufering in the eternal dramatic action within
God himself.
44
If this is so, and I believe it is, all three
narratives fnd their ultimate ground in that eternal
meta-narrative in which the Father gives himself to the
Son and the Son back to the Father in the eternal bond of
love of the Spirit. It is this unsurpassable reality that opens
itself to us in our daily experience of pain and sorrow.
Finally, how does all this cohere with Luthers under-
standing of the cross as one of the marks of the Church?
Even a cursory comparison of our conclusions with
Luthers account of the seven marks of the Church will
expose a clear consistency.
45
Framing his understanding
of the holy cross within the Tird Article of the Chil-
drens Creed, Luther holds to the same three pragmatic
forces that we have just articulated. Te Tird Article
story transforms the inefable scandal of the cross into
the evangelical indicative that exposes who these poor
wretched people are: the una et sancta et catholica ecclesia
(assertive act). Trough the cross, the Holy Spirit mor-
tifes the old Adam and teaches him patience, humility,
gentleness, praise and thanks, and good cheer in suf-
fering, training him in the tres virtutes theologicas that
correspond to our new life in Christ: to believe in God
(and) trust him, to love him, and to place our hope in
44
John J. ODonnell. Te Mystery of the Triune God (New York: Paulist
Press, 1989).
45
Luther, 41, 143166.
him.
46
Finally, and more fundamentally, the cross is a
constitutive part of that activity with which the Holy Trin-
ity not only creates the eschatological reality of the Church
per redemptionem et vivifcationem et santifcationem,
47

but also God has revealed Himself and opened the deep-
est abyss of His fatherly heart and His pure, inexpressible
love In addition to giving and imparting to us every-
thing in heaven and upon earth, He has even given to us
His Son and his Holy Spirit, who brings us to Himself.
48
Tis is the Church we believe to be a great reality
in the world, although our eyes cannot see it. For
as the body of Christ in the sacrament is hidden
to our eyes, so the mystical body is hidden to any
earthly eye: Abscondita est ecclesia, latent sancti,
as Luther puts it. And yet in either case what is
hidden to our perception is a great reality: Tis is
my body.
49
Te Rev. Roberto E. Bustamante is a pastor in the
Argentina Evangelical Lutheran Church and professor at
Seminario Concordia in Buenos Aires.
46
Ibid, 165.
47
Ibid, 144.
48
Te Large Catechism (1529), in: Te Lutheran Confessions: A Readers
Edition of the Book of Concord, eds. Paul T. McCain, Robert C. Baker,
Gene E. Veith and Edward A. Engelbrecht (St. Louis, MO: Concordia
Publishing House, 2005), 432.
49
Hermann Sasse. Tis Is My Body: Luthers Contention for the Real
Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock
Publishers, 2001), 392.
27
Suffering, Persecution
and Martyrdom as a Mark
of the Church: How Has
This Affected Theological
Education? A Practical
Perspective from Africa
by Joseph Omolo
Bishop Omolo explains
the relationship between
sufering, persecution and
martyrdom and Lutheran
theology and its impact on
international theological
education.
Introduction
I
n this writing, I wish to emphasize that I am not
going to just repeat the biblical witness on sufering
and martyrdom, nor am I going to just spit out the
Lutheran Confessional understanding of Luthers Seven
Marks of the Church. Rather, I hope to reveal that the
witness born in the Holy Scriptures and in the Luther-
an Confessions especially in the seventh mark of the
Church as pointed out by Dr. Martin Luther were pres-
ent in his day, and such signs remain
present today, helping us to under-
stand how such marks shape the life
of the Church, not only in Africa, but
also in other parts of the world.
Although no one willingly wel-
comes sufering and persecution, it is
necessary to note here that sufering is
part of the life of the Church of Christ
and that Christians should see this as
both a challenge and encouragement.
Biblical Witness on Suffering and
Martyrdom
When our Lord Jesus Christ came
upon the city of Jerusalem late in His
earthly ministry, He spoke of her in less than glowing
terms, saying: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills
the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How
ofen would I have gathered your children together as a
hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not
willing (Matt. 23:37).
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Elijah are but three of the Old
Testament prophets who supply evidence in support of
the spoken Word of the incarnate God noted above. Tese
prophets were persecuted for their faithfulness to God
and His Word. Rather than being honored and revered
for faithful proclamation, they were instead ridiculed and,
in Elijahs case, hunted down like a criminal to be killed.
Te persecution of the voice of the living God fnds its
climax, when the Son of God is despised and rejected, just
as Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 53). Afer the resurrection
and the ascension of the Lord Himself, the Early Church
experienced severe persecution at the hands of both the
Jews and the Roman government. Te arrest of the apos-
tles (Peter and John in Acts 3) is the
very frst example to be mentioned in
the Early Church. As opposition and
persecution intensifed, the apos-
tles/disciples fed out of Jerusalem,
and wherever they went, they car-
ried with them the message of the
Gospel. Te open stoning of Steven
in Acts 7 evidenced the greatest
persecution. Worse still, the apostle
Paul gives a complete listing of his
own persecution when he records,
under inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
the following: Five times I received
at the hands of the Jews the forty
lashes less one. Tree times I was beaten with rods. Once
I was stoned. Tree times I was shipwrecked; a night and
a day I was adrif at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger
from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own
people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger
in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false
brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless
night, in hunger and thirst, ofen without food, in cold
and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is
the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches
(2 Cor. 11:2428).
In the light of the
marks of the church
presented by Luther,
and grounded in the
teaching and life of
Jesus, it is evident
that the true church
will always experience
suffering in different
ways.
29
Such biblically-attested marks of persecution and
martyrdom are not the only ones that could be named.
Te history of the Church Fathers also attest to this; some
were burned alive, others skinned alive and still others
given to lions to be torn into pieces, as they bore witness
by their blood (martyria). As all these were happening,
the Church continued to be strong in faith.
Now, you need not wonder what happens to faithful
pastoral servants of Christ when the world ridicules and
persecutes them. All those who witnessed by their blood
generally received the treatment that was imposed upon
them just as the crucifed Lord God Himself and His
apostles, prophets and evangelists did. In the baptismal
call, the child of God is to deny oneself; take up the cross,
which is the denial of self; and follow Jesus. But to follow
Jesus ofen leads to ones personal cross of sufering, per-
secution and perhaps even martyrdom.
Lutheran Confessions on Suffering and Martyrdom
To speak of sufering and persecution as a mark of the
Church needs some clarifcation. First, it is necessary
to briefy explain what the word church means in the
Lutheran defnition.
Te Lutheran Confessions speak of the Church and
her marks in this manner: Our churches teach that one
holy Church is to remain forever. What is the Church?
Te word church (Greek ekklesia) means to call out.
Tis term was used by the Jews for a remnant com-
munity, such as the Qumran community who created
the Dead Sea Scrolls and who founded this term, rather
than the name for a synagogue or gathering (Matt. 18:17)
used by the Jews. Te Greeks used this term to refer to
people assembling in the cities for clubs or organizations.
Later in the New Testament, this term jumps to its full
meaning as ones who are called out (Acts 7:38). In its
context, Jesus is using this term to expand His claim of
Messiahship (Matt. 16:2123; 26:28). Te Church is the
body of Christ. It is the place where two or more gather
in the name of Christ. Our confessions further describe
the Church as the Communion of Saints among whom
the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments rightly
administered (Augsburg Confession VII). For Luther, the
Church is a group of holy saints and the sheep who hear
the voice of their Shepherd (Smalcald Articles XII 2). Tis
is where the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given: the
Keys of Heaven that only Jesus holds (Rev. 1:18).
How do the confessions speak of the Church and her
marks? Our churches teach that one holy Church is to
remain forever. Te Church is the congregation of saints
(Ps. 149:1) in which the Gospel is purely taught and the
Sacraments are correctly administered. For the true unity
of the Church, it is enough to agree about the doctrine
of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments.
It is not necessary that human traditions that is, rites
or ceremonies instituted by men should be the same
everywhere. As Paul says, One Lord, one faith, one Bap-
tism, one God and Father of all (Eph. 4:56).
1
In the
Apology, this concept is further developed and clari-
fed when the confessors say: He (Jesus) teaches that the
Church has been covered by a lot of evils, so that this
stumbling block may not ofend the pious, and so that we
may know that the Word and Sacraments are powerful
even when administered by the wicked.
Ten, the Apology adds how the Church may be rec-
ognized in such a situation. Lutherans have come to call
these signs of recognition of the Church the Marks of the
Church. Te Apology states: We add the marks: the pure
teaching of the Gospel and the Sacraments. Tis Church
is properly the pillar of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). For
it keeps the pure Gospel as Paul says in 1 Cor. 3:11. Te
foundation is the true knowledge of Christ and faith.
2

Earlier, the Apology clarifed that the Church is not
merely an outward association, but that it is primar-
ily one of faith and confession. Here I quote again: But
the Church is not only the fellowship of outward objects
and rites, as other governments, but at its core, it is a fel-
lowship of faith and of the Holy Spirit in hearts. Yet this
fellowship has outward marks so that it can be recognized.
Tese marks are the pure doctrine of the Gospel and the
administration of the Sacraments in accordance with the
Gospel of Christ. Tis Church alone is called Christs body,
which Christ renews, sanctifes and governs, by His Spirit.
Paul testifes about this when he says, And gave Him as
head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the
fullness of Him who flls all in all (Eph. 1:2223). He
adds the outward marks, the Word and Sacraments. Paul
continues to speak: Christ loved the Church and gave
Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having
cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so
that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might
be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:2527)
1
Concordia: Te Lutheran Confessions. P. T. McCain, ed. (St. Louis, MO:
Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 34.
2
Ibid, 146.
In the Confession, we have presented this sentence
almost word for word. Te Church is defned by the Tird
Article of the Creed, which teaches us to believe that there
is a holy catholic Church. Te wicked indeed are not a
holy church. Te words that follow, namely, the commu-
nion of saints, seem to be added in order to explain what
the Church signifes: the congregation of saints, who
have with each other the fellowship of the same Gospel or
doctrine and the same Holy Spirit.
3

Luther in Context: The Marks of the Church
In his writing, On the Councils and the Church(es),
Dr. Martin Luther lists seven marks of identifying the
Church. First, the holy Christian people are recognized
by their possession of the holy
Word of God. To be sure, not all
have it in equal measure, as St.
Paul says (I Cor. 3:1214). Some
possess the Word in its complete
purity; others do not.
4
Second,
Gods people are recognized by
the holy Sacrament of Baptism
wherever it is taught, believed
and administered correctly
according to Christs ordinance.
Tat, too, is a public sign.
5

Tird, Gods people are rec-
ognized by the holy sacrament
of the altar, wherever it is rightly
administered, believed and
received, according to Christs
institution. Tis, too, is a public sign.
6
Fourth, Gods people are recognized by the Ofce of
the Keys exercised publicly.
7
Fifh, the Church is recognized externally by the fact
that it consecrates or calls ministers or has ofces that it is
to administer. Tere must be bishops, pastors or preach-
ers, who publicly and privately give, administer and use
the aforementioned four things or holy possessions on
behalf of and in the name of the Church.
8
3
Ibid, 144.
4
Martin Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 41: Luthers works, Vol. 41: Church
and Ministry III, J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, eds.
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 148.
5
Ibid, 151.
6
Ibid, 152.
7
Ibid, 153.
8
Ibid, 154.
Sixth, the holy Christian people are externally recog-
nized by prayer, public praise and thanksgiving to God.
Where you see and hear the Lords Prayer prayed and
taught, Psalms or other spiritual songs sung in accor-
dance with the Word of God and the true faith, as well
as the use of the creeds, the Ten Commandments and
the catechism in public, you may rest assured that a holy
Christian people of God are present.
9

Seventh, the holy Christian people are externally rec-
ognized by the holy possession of the sacred cross. Tey
must endure every misfortune and persecution, all kinds
of trials and evil from the devil, the world and the fesh (as
the Lords Prayer indicates) by inward sadness, timidity,
fear, outward poverty, contempt, illness and weakness, in
order to become like their head,
who is Christ. And the only
reason they must sufer is that
they steadfastly adhere to Christ
and Gods Word, enduring this
for the sake of Christ: Blessed
are you when men persecute you
on My account (Matt. 5:11).
Tey must be pious, quiet, obe-
dient, and prepared to serve the
government and everybody with
life and goods, doing no one any
harm.
10

It is relatively easy to see how
and what Luther was getting at
when he called these the seven
marks of the Church. Tey are
for strengthening the faith of those called by the Gospel.
11
If one reads the entire document, one may note that
all of these signs are under attack by the devil, the world
and even ones own fesh. Tis is so because, properly
understood, they support or proclaim the Gospel itself.
All these marks are centered in and on Christ, who is the
head of His Church.
Such signs as Luther proclaimed in the seventh mark
are present not merely in the African context, but virtu-
ally wherever the Gospel is proclaimed in its truth and
purity and the Sacraments administered rightly as the
Lord bids His Church. And they have been so in every
time and in various places from time immemorial and
9
Ibid, 164.
10
Ibid, 164165.
11
Luther, 164165.
It is imperative that a true
genuine theology starts,
refects and is completed at
the foot of Christs cross.
With proper Lutheran
Hermeneutical Principles of
interpretation, proper teaching
of the Theology of the Cross
is the Key to understanding,
doing and living true
Christian life.
31
will continue to be until the Lord comes back to take His
bride, the Church.
Contextual Analysis of Suffering, Persecution and
Martyrdom as a Mark of the Church
Bearing the Cross Contextually: The Seventh Sign in the
African Context
Luther says that Christian people are externally recog-
nized by the holy possession of the sacred cross. How
can this afect the life of a pastor in his pastoral work?
Tis concept must be somewhat clarifed. I want to men-
tion two types of sufering that a Christian may endure,
namely, sufering on an individual or at a corporate level.
On the one hand, sometimes a pastor may fnd him-
self in difculties with a congregation or a parish due
to his own sinful/selfsh behaviors. In such a situation,
rather than seeing God calling him to repentance, he may
adopt a sufering complex which in reality is merely the
baggage of a misguided or misinterpreted theology of
Glory or selfsh theology or of greed and selfshness.
A pastor may be rejected not for faithfulness to Christ
and His gospel, but because he has acted unilaterally, as
God Himself, not merely His servant. If the mark of the
Sacred Cross is present in this instance, it is upon the
congregation and not a pastor.
On the corporate level, some congregations and par-
ishes may refuse to support or put up with their pastors
physical needs because the congregation has an under-
developed sense of stewardship. Or the pastor may deny
following misinformed teachings, rejecting wrong doc-
trines or improper ethics the congregation may want to
adopt. Te congregation may impose such frustrations
to force the pastor to adhere to their needs. In such a
circumstance, I believe, bearing the cross falls in the cat-
egory of the mark of the Sacred Cross, on the part of
the pastor and most times upon his family as well. A
very clear example is now prevalent in connection with
congregations (church bodies the Swedish Lutheran
Church, etc.) which want to adopt and enforce the ordina-
tion of women in the name of human rights; or a situation
whereby a parish denies a pastor on nepotism ground (we
want a pastor or a church leader from our clan, tribe and
the like). In such a situation, the persecution (bearing of
the Holy Cross, in Luthers language) is imposed on the
innocent pastor.
Tere also may be another form of persecution we
may call corporate persecution. Let me give an exam-
ple. A young and developing church like Te Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Kenya may have some wealthy but
corrupt donors who may attempt to infuence or enforce
some kind of ill policies to the leadership of the church.
Such donors may work to infuence or give support only
under certain conditions. Unless the receiving institution
abides by their conditions, business will not be as usual.
Such donors may even work to build their separate king-
doms alongside the normal duly-elected leadership of the
young church to create more problems and cause perse-
cutions to such a young church. Knowing very well the
fnancial ability of such young institution/church, such
corrupt donor(s) may work to create and fnance a parallel
team whose duties will be infuenced to cause problems,
even to falsely accuse the leadership of the church, even in
a court of law, with the view to frustrate and even shame
the church leadership of the young church. If such things
happen, it is the cross of Christ being imposed to those
who carry it.
Luther continues to clarify such signs of the Chris-
tians suferings, encouraging that such are marks of the
true church. In Luthers time, persecution came to him
and sometimes to his followers in diferent ways. As the
devil continuously attacked Luther from diferent corners,
he became strengthened and more sharpened in his theol-
ogy of the cross.
12
Again, Luther continued to emphasize
that, Tey (Christians) must endure every misfortune
and persecution, all kinds of trials and evil from the devil,
the world and the fesh (as the Lords Prayer indicates) by
12
Among Luthers most faithful followers were members of his own
order. As early as 1519, Jakob Spreng, the prior of the Augustinian
monastery in Antwerp, defended Luthers teachings. In 1521, the Diet
of Worms put Luther under the ban, called him a devil in human form,
and branded his teaching heretical. In the parts of Germany where
Lutheranism was strongest, the terms of this edict were never carried
out. Luthers own prince, Frederick the Wise, refused to set his name to
it, and, instead of prosecuting Luther, he had him taken into protective
custody.
In the Netherlands, however, political conditions were diferent. Tese
lands were directly under the emperor. Here the Edict of Worms was
carried out to the letter. In Antwerp, Jakob Spreng and his successor
Henry von Ztphen were arrested and threatened with execution. Te
remaining Augustinians were undeterred and continued to preach
with great success, and so the whole monastery was laid to the ground
and all the monks imprisoned. When the scholastics of the famous
University of Louvain made it known that the friars would either have
to recant or be burned at the stake, all but three renounced Lutheran
teaching. Te three confessors were convicted of heresy and condemned
to death at the stake. Te fate of one of them, Lambert Torn, is not
quite clear. He remained in prison and was not executed until 1528.
Luther sent him a letter of comfort in 1524. But the other two, Heinrich
Voes and Johann Esch, died martyrs deaths at the market place in
Brussels, July 1, 1523 the frst blood witnesses of the Reformation.
inward sadness, timidity, fear, outward poverty, contempt,
illness and weakness, in order to become like their head,
Christ. And the only reason they must sufer is that they
steadfastly adhere to Christ and Gods Word, enduring
this for the sake of Christ, Matthew (5:11).
13
Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom: Some Practical
Aspects from Africa: Ugandan Case
Needless to say, Christians sufer not for them to gain any
glory, rather it is a normal and ordi-
nary life they as witnesses to Christ
their Lord. Sometimes such per-
secutions may come from the hands
of the worldly kings working to sup-
press Christian religion, as in the
case of Uganda martyrs. Te Uganda
Martyrs were Christian converts who
were murdered for their faith in the
historical kingdom of Buganda, now
part of Uganda. Te reasons for their
murder are explained in connection
to the personal selfshness of the king
and also political ambition. It is said
that the frst group was murdered,
because of their refusal to ofer sacrifces to the tradi-
tional gods and due to their resistance to King Mwangas
homosexual practices. Te killings of some more faithful
Christians continued in Buganda for some time, as several
faithful members of the church experienced. One exam-
ple to mention is Anglican Archbishop, Janani Luwum,
murdered in 1977 by president Idi Amin Dada of Uganda.
The Kenyan and Somalia Context
Although Kenya is considered largely as a Christian coun-
try, with Muslim population of only about 10 percent and
78 percent Christian, there is evidence that Christians
are persecuted in the country, though not as ofcially
as the cases mentioned above in Uganda by some past
regimes. As we can see, even if majority of Kenyans are
Christians, the Kenyan constitution authorizes courts
based on Islamic Sharia law to adjudicate personal issues
such as marriage, divorce and inheritance among Mus-
lims. Te al-Shabab terrorist group, which has been for
sometime controlling much of the neighboring Somalia,
has been causing various problems against the population
of Kenya.
13
Luther, 164165.
Kenyan refugee camps have been overfowing with
Somali people who have been driven from their homes.
Tese camps ofer no protection, as refugee pastors and
evangelists are sometimes threatened with assault or death
by the terrorists. In Jan. 17, 2013, Pastor Juliun Mukonzi
was killed and 11 other believers injured, when jihadists
bombed a church in Kenya. On Sept. 30, a grenade was
thrown into a Sunday school service in Kenya, killing one
child and wounding eight others. In that bombing, one
parent was reported dead. Tough
the leadership of that church thought
to cancel Sunday school the Sunday
that followed, most children insisted
they wanted to meet as usual and
continue with prayers!
Somalia
By Jan. 15, 2010, the Muslim Popu-
lation in Somalia was 99.95 percent
of the population, while Christians
were less than .05 percent. Al-Shabab,
a well-organized Muslim terrorist
group, has been in control of much
of Somalia. Based on the teachings
of the Koran and the sayings of Muhammad, draconian
brutalities death by stoning for adultery, execution of
converts from Islam to Christ, and chopping of hands
and feet for stealing are commonplace. A Christian
man in Mogadishu was accused of trying to convert a
Muslim boy and executed. Another believer refused to
betray his teacher in the faith, and his young sons were
beheaded. An evangelist bringing Bibles into the country
was discovered and shot. Other Christians and converts
have lost their families, jobs and homes. Christians are
forced to hide their faith since even owning a Bible is
punishable by death. Yet, despite all this, believers still
gather, and there is a great desire for the Gospel.
In all these examples it is evident that, they (believ-
ers) must endure every misfortune. Tey must endure
persecution. Tey must endure all kinds of trials. Yes, they
must endure evil from the devil, the world and the fesh.
Tey (believers) must endure inward sadness. Tey must
endure timidity, fear. Tey must endure outward poverty.
Tey must endure contempt. Tey must endure illness.
Tey must endure weakness, writes Martin Luther.
14
How
14
Luther, 165.
In bringing the
message of the Gospel,
the message of the
Cross, one needs to
seriously take into
consideration the
cultural beliefs and
practices of that
particular culture.
33
do all these infuence theological education, as we work to
train and form pastors for our churches?
Toward Lutheran Seminaries Response to Suffer-
ing, Persecution and Martyrdom as a Mark of the
Church
In an African context where theological education is
coupled with several contextual challenges (Encul-
turation theology of the Roman Catholic, Syncretistic
theology, health and wealth theology, and the quest for
African theology to mention just a some), the sound of
biblical theology of the cross forms a point of departure
in presenting the theology of sufering, persecution and
martyrdom as the mark of the true Church. Tis becomes
a true challenge when forming seminary curriculum and
working with pastors in the congregations. Let me briefy
highlight few of these points to illustrate the contextual
background:
Enculturation Theology of the Roman Catholic Church
It has been claimed that Roman Catholics have been very
successful in many parts of Africa, due to their ritualis-
tic type of worship and their teaching on the doctrine of
saints. If this claim holds true, it can further be argued
that ritualistic worship and the doctrine of saints have
some afnities with the veneration of ancestors in the
African traditional religious practices. How does the-
ology properly counteract this belief and practice in the
African context?
Syncretism
Te move to revive the African Traditional Religious
philosophy and practices, mingled with Christian wor-
ship and practice came about in the 20th century in
Africa.
15
Many clergy from the mainline churches, who
wanted to start their own churches, claimed that African
religious beliefs were neglected in their contemporary
Christianity the mainline churches. Afer the Bible
was translated into some native African languages, some
Africans started to react seriously, and without proper
hermeneutical principles, there developed various inter-
pretations. As the African natives read the Bible in their
own languages, several of them adopted the allegorical
method of interpretation, while others looked for some
passages which could help them answer some questions
troubling them in their lives. Te claim that the mission-
15
David Barrett, Schism and Renewal in Africa: An Analysis of Six
Tousand Contemporary Religious Movements (Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford
University Press, 1968).
aries within the mainline churches did not answer their
spiritual questions became so prevalent, as many Africans
within the ministry in the churches felt that they were
being mistreated by their missionaries. Consequently, the
Christian religion in those areas became what John Taylor
calls a classroom religion.
16
While in the church, the
people worshiped and behaved as the missionaries taught
and did, but when they went back to their villages, they
practiced their African Traditional Religious faith, espe-
cially in times of crisis.
It is still evident that even at this time people (many
African Christians) still revert to animistic belief and
practices in times of difculties, be it in times of death in
the family, illness or any such calamity. How does this sit-
uation inform us when we prepare and form a pastor for a
Lutheran congregation in Africa today?
Health and Wealth Theology
Te health and wealth theological practice is very
prevalent in African Initiated Churches and the new Pen-
tecostal churches. Tese churches are booming and have
very large followings, since they scratch where it itches
in Africa today. Sundkler and Simojoki have pointed
out some similarities in the African traditional healing
system with the healing system practiced by many Afri-
can Initiated Churches (AIC). In the (AIC)
17
the so-called
healing ministry attracts many people, especially in
the developing countries because of the economical dif-
fculties and widespread health problems. In the AICs,
fghting demonic spirits is a common phenomenon
the worship is not complete until the demon is exorcised.
Tis type of spiritual warfare worship grounds its power
around the prophet or the spiritual leader, the diviner,
etc. In times of crisis, people go to such leaders seeking
healing, etc. Te infuence of health and wealth theology
(theology of glory) is still a problem to be reckoned with
in Africa.
18
It is an evidential phenomenon that many so
called evangelical churches in Africa are at this time
swimming in a Pentecostal/charismatic ocean with the
slogan: come see a miracle and get healed. Te mission-
ary methods of several evangelical churches are geared
toward spiritual warfare. Going around several cities
16
John V. Taylor, Te Primal Vision (Elva, Scotland: Robert Canigham
& Sons Ltd., 1963).
17
Bengt Sundkler, Christian Ministry in Africa (London: SCM Press,
1960), 14. Anssi Simojoki, Te Ministry of the Church and the Call
of Mission: Africa Refection, in Te Ofce of the Ministry, ed. John R.
Fehrmann and Daniel Preus (Crestwood, MO: Luther Academy, 1996).
18
Simojoki, Te Ministry of the Church.
in Africa Kenya in particular one sees deliverance
and miracle churches conducting their spiritual meetings
in open-air places.
19
As people would sing and dance to
piercing amplifed music, these churches conduct prayers
for the sick and exorcise demons. Spiritual warfare wor-
ship refects how people understand and want to deal
with the existence of evil and sufering. What does the
Bible teach about the existence of evil and sufering, and
how can this message be communicated in this context
relevantly? It is imperative to present clearly the theology
of sufering, persecution and martyrdom in our theologi-
cal studies in the seminary to equip the pastoral students,
not forgetting Christians with the truth of the Gospel.
African Theology
African theology has taken root in many African univer-
sities, Bible colleges and many other schools. With the
infuence of the African theology, many theologians are
seeking theological common ground by encouraging com-
promise of denominational theological convictions for a
common contextual theology. John Mugambi, for exam-
ple, one of the leading professor in Nairobi University, is
of the opinion that private Bible colleges or universities
should not teach their denominational theological con-
victions because it divides people on denominational
lines.
20
Mbiti indicates that African Traditional Religion
(ATR) has the same religious inspirational potentials as
Islam and Judaism, and contains somewhat the same rev-
elation.
21
For Mbiti, the God who revealed Himself in the
Old Testament is the same one who revealed himself in
ATR. Te practice of Christians going back to consult the
traditional religious healers (witch doctors, diviners, etc.)
in times of problems is a crisis to be dealt with in African
theological education.
22

Summary and Conclusion
Some of the great enemies of the Church in our time may
be grouped as: Traditional Cultural Religiosities; polit-
ical oppressors; Muslim jihadists (al-Qaida, al-Shabab,
19
Ibid.
20
Mugambi, From Liberation to Reconstruction.
21
John Mbiti, Peace and Reconciliation in African Religion and
Christianity, Dialogue & Alliance 7 (SpringSummer 1993): 1732,
and John Mbiti, Hearts Cannot be Lent: In Search of Peace and
Reconciliation in African Traditional Society, Princeton Seminary
Bulletin 20, no. 1 (1999): 112.
22
For more information on Christians reverting to Spiritism at times
of crisis, see Nelson Unwene, Some Annang Christians Revert to
Spiritism in Crisis Situations (Ph.D. diss., Concordia Teological
Seminary, 1981).
Taliban and other Muslim terrorists); the Liberal wing
of Christianity; the new Pentecostalism with their
health and wealth theologies theology of glory; and
post-modern ideologies. Te Church must be aware of
her enemies to make her stand frm, ready with Word and
Sacrament, and proper proclamation of the Gospel. For
all these challenges, coming from within and without, the
proper teaching of the Lutheran theology of the cross is
the answer.
In bringing the message of the Gospel, the message of
the Cross, one needs to seriously take into consideration
the cultural beliefs and practices of that particular culture.
However, in this process, the theological education has
to carefully guard itself against what Gene Veith calls, a
merely cultural religion, that which has been fueled by
accommodationists, synthesists, and separatists, who
tend to down-play the transcendental aspect of religion at
the expense of divinizing culture.
23
Rather, a balance must
be done in balancing the transcendental and immanent
nature of the theological study. In the light of the marks
of the church presented by Luther, and grounded in the
teaching and life of Jesus, it is evident that the true church
will always experience sufering in diferent ways.
It is imperative that a true genuine theology starts,
refects and is completed at the foot of Christs cross. With
proper Lutheran Hermeneutical Principles of interpreta-
tion, proper teaching of the Teology of the Cross is the
Key to understanding, doing and living true Christian
life. As Christ told his disciple, he who wants to follow
Me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.
For he who loves his life will lose it, but he who readily
loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it. Tese
words have encouraged many faithful believers through-
out all ages, providing peace to those who truly follow
Christ, knowing where they came from and where they
are going.
Te Right Rev. Dr. Joseph Ochola Omolo is bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya Lake Diocese and
rector of Matongo Lutheran Teological College, Kenya.
23
In Angus J. L. Menuge, ed. Christ and Culture in Dialogue (St. Louis
MO: Concordia Academic Press, 1999), 18.
35
A Confessional, Dogmatic View
of Martyrdom and the Cross
by Lawrence R. Rast, Jr.
Tis article considers
martyrdom and the cross
from the perspective of
the Lutheran Confessions
and the Lutheran dogmatic
tradition in a historical
context.
Introduction
L
et us consider martyrdom and the cross
from the perspective of the Lutheran Confessions
and the Lutheran dogmatic tradition. However,
please note that I am, in respect to my discipline, a his-
torian. What that means in the context of this writing is
that, while we will look at the confessional witness to mar-
tyrdom and the cross, we will also place this witness in a
historical context for the sake of learning how Lutherans
have actually lived the relationship that proceeds from
their dogmatic commitments.
Luthers theological breakthrough has been more than
adequately chronicled and examined. Scholars like Marc
Lienhard and others have demon-
strated the centrality of Christ.
1
And
yet, despite the insightful and careful
work of such thinkers, many contin-
ue to simplify Luthers thinking to the
point of absurdity.
On more than several occasions
within recent months, I have en-
countered people who should know
better than to refer to Luther or Lu-
theranisms position on death and
resurrection of Christ as Gospel
reductionism. Te argument goes something like this:
Luther taught rightly that we are saved by grace alone
through faith because of Christ. However, this theological
insight has been reduced to the crass and largely meaning-
less presentation of the Gospel, usually within sermons,
to something like the following: you have sinned; Jesus
died and rose to take away your sins; believe this and
you are saved. Tis, again, is wrongly identifed by some
1
Marc Lienhard, Luther, Witness to Jesus Christ: Stages and Temes of
the Reformers Christology (Minneapolis MN: Augsburg, 1982).
as Gospel reductionism. It is not. Gospel reductionism,
properly defned, is the teaching identifed with the for-
mer faculty majority of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis
during the 1960s and 1970s, which identifed the Gospel
as the one doctrine of the Scriptures and which limited
the authority of the Bible to the argument that it carried
this one doctrine of the Gospel. Care must be taken when
using theological formulations that are deeply embedded
in specifc historical contexts.
However, this does not change the fact that such a pre-
sentation as outlined above, while it does communicate
the basics of the Gospel, is in fact theologically reduction-
ist and does not sufciently capture
the fullness of the biblical witness
regarding the Gospel as it is rightly
confessed by Lutherans.
Martin Luther, Theologia Crucis
and Life under the Cross
For Luther, the Gospel centered in
the cross of Jesus Christ was the core
of biblical witness. His well-known
thesis 20 of the Heidelberg Dis-
putation captures this reality: He
deserves to be called a theologian, however, who compre-
hends the visible and manifest things of God seen through
sufering and the cross.
2
With his excommunication from
the church (Exsurge Domine,) and condemnation at the
Diet of Worms, Luther lived under the reality that his life
might be forfeit at any moment for the last quarter cen-
tury of his life.
2
Hermann Sasse. Luthers Teology of the Cross, in: Briefe an
Lutherische Pastoren, Nr. 18, trans. Arnold J. Koelpin (October, 1951),
http://www.wlsessays.net/fles/SasseCross.pdf; Heino O. Kadai, Luthers
Teology of the Cross, Concordia Teological Quarterly 63 (1999):
169204, http://media.ctsfw.edu/303.
Care must be taken
when using theological
formulations that
are deeply embedded
in specifc historical
contexts.
37
In the context of that reality, Luther lived a remarkably
normal life. He married and had children. He sufered
health issues, like many of us as we age, and he did rather
well for himself fnancially. Yet each day was lived under
the threat of death of martyrdom and the cross. Tis
reality, and the difculties of life in 16th century Ger-
many, led Luther consistently to think about death. He
would argue that this was not born of morbidity, but that
it was part of the Christian life.
In 1527, Luther published Whether One May Flee
from a Deadly Plague. In it, he considered the variety of
responses that Christians may have, both good and evil,
to the threats to this body and life. Sounding remarkably
pastoral, Luther states that, Since it is generally true of
Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one
simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone.
Yet he recognizes that there are condemnable actions,
for instance, in avoiding death. Of course, there are times
one should not be condemned for such. On the other
hand, simple fear of death can lead to condemnation.
As he writes: For instance, in the case of a man who is
imprisoned for the sake of Gods word. In such a situation
everyone has Christs plain mandate and command not to
fee but rather to sufer death, as he says, Whoever denies
me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is
in heaven and Do not fear those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul, Matthew 10.
3

But what about if there is no issue of disobedience
involved? Here Luther distinguishes between following
ones vocation and living out the life of faith. For example,
if one is a parent or guardian and children are involved,
one is obligated to care for them no matter what the risk
to ones own well-being. On the other hand, Where
no such emergency exists and where enough people
are available for nursing and taking care of the sick and
where, voluntarily or by orders, those who are weak in
faith make provision so that there is no need for addi-
tional helpers, or where the sick do not want them and
have refused their services, I judge that they have an equal
choice either to fee or to remain.
His conclusion is sound: If someone is sufciently
bold and strong in his faith, let him stay in Gods name;
that is certainly no sin. If someone is weak and fearful,
let him fee in Gods name as long as he does not neglect
3
Martin Luther, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague, in
Timothy F. Lull, Martin Luthers Basic Teological Writings (Minneapolis
MN: Fortress, 1989), 73738.
his duty toward his neighbor but has made adequate pro-
vision for others to provide nursing care. To fee from
death to save ones life is a natural tendency, implanted
by God and not forbidden, unless it be against God
and neighbor
4

In a nice summary, he instructs Christians on how to
think about death.
You ought to think this way: Very well, by Gods
decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly
ofal. Terefore I shall ask God mercifully to pro-
tect us. Ten I shall fumigate, help purify the air,
administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid
places and person where my presence is not needed
in order not to become contaminated and thus per-
chance infect and pollute others, and so cause their
death as a result of my negligence. If God should
wish to take me, he will surely fnd me and I have
done what he has expected of me and so I am not
responsible for either my own death or the death of
others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall
not avoid place or person but will go freely
5

It is all a matter of perspective. Because Christ has
sufered death, once for all, we need no longer fear death.
Indeed, Christs death is our death and his resurrection is
our resurrection. As such, death no longer holds us in its
terrifying grip. In his A Sermon on Preparing to Die, he
points us away from ourselves to Christ:
Tenth, you must not view or ponder death as such,
not in yourself or in your nature, nor in those who
were killed by Gods wrath and were overcome by
death. If you do that, you will be lost and defeated
with them. But you must resolutely turn your gaze,
the thoughts of your heart, and all your sense away
from this picture and look at death closely and
untiringly only as seen in those who died in Gods
grace and who have overcome death, particularly in
Christ and then also in all his saints.
In such pictures death will not appear terrible and
gruesome. No, it will seem contemptible and dead,
slain and overcome in life. For Christ is nothing
other than sheer life, as his saints are likewise. Te
more profoundly you impress that image upon your
heart and gaze upon it, the more the image of death
will pale and vanish of itself without struggle or
4
Luther, Whether One May Flee, 73940.
5
Luther, Whether One May Flee, 749, 755.
battle. Tus your hearth will be at peace and you will
be able to die calmly in Christ and with Christ
6

The Augsburg Confession and Life Under the Cross
Te immediate precursor of the Diet of Augsburg, and
thus the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, was
the Second Diet of Speyer in 1529. Tough the First Diet
of Speyer (1526) had decreed that until a general council
for Germany be held, it was necessary for each estate to
regulate it own religious afairs (cuius regio, eius religio),
the present Diet mandated that it be
illegal for any person to join any false
faith or sect. Tis mandate prompted
the evangelical party to register its
protest and testimony that, in mat-
ters pertaining to the glory of God
and the salvation of our souls, every
man must himself give an answer to
God for his conduct so that in this
respect no man can conceal him-
self behind other peoples acts or
behind majority resolutions. Further,
because the doctrine of the evangel-
icals was founded upon the Word
of God, they would not deny their
position unless we are shown to be
in error by a Council, or by the holy, pure, divine biblical
Scriptures. Such a denial of their position would entail
much more than a mere politicizing move in order to gain
the emperors favor.
In order to combat the problems that faced the dis-
united church, Charles V called for a Diet at Augsburg
in 1530. To present the evangelical faith at this meeting,
the Elector of Saxony, John Frederick appointed Luther,
Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen and Philip Mel-
anchthon with the task of summarizing the diferences
between the evangelicals and the papists. Melanchthon,
due to Luthers absence at Augsburg, became the chief
author of the evangelicals apology. Tough essentially
completed by May 11, Melanchthon continually involved
himself in the process of revision. Still, the Confession,
having been prepared and readied for presentation, was
read for the frst time publicly, June 25, 1530.
Te document itself is ecumenical in scope and irenic
in nature, seeking to downplay the diferences of opinion
6
Martin Luther, A Sermon on Preparing to Die, in Timothy F. Lull,
Martin Luthers Basic Teological Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress,
1989), 643.
that were giving rise to hostilities between the evangelical
party and the Romanists. Still, it is truly a Reformation
document and positively puts forth the predominant
ideas of the evangelical party. As such, it is necessary now
that we look at this work in terms of its nature as a repre-
sentative document of the evangelical cause.
Te frst article of the Augsburg Confession treats God.
Te evangelicals placed this article frst, not only because
it is fundamental, but also to show the catholic nature of
the evangelical movement. Tis group did not reject the
time-honored formulations of the
early church and its councils. Rather,
they afrmed the expressions of the
councils and thereby indicated their
rightful place in the fow of the church
and its history.
Articles II and II, which speak
of original sin and the Son of God
respectively, are also catholic in
nature. Te frst confesses that all
men are conceived and born sinful
and so are in need of the Savior, who
is confessed in the third. However, as
one delves into the language of the
articles more closely, the evangelical
position begins to become clearer.
Tough still adhering to the churchs historical posi-
tion, the Confession now begins to hint at the principle
which determines the very existence of the evangelical
party. Article II condemns the Pelagians and those who
deny that the vice of origin is sin and who obscure the
glory of Christs merits and benefts by contending that
man can be justifed before God by his own strength and
reason. Similarly, though Article II confesses the Chalce-
donian formula regarding the person of Christ, his work
of atonement is said to reconcile the Father to us and be
a sacrifce not only for original guilt but also for all actual
sins of men. Further, Christs benefts are available to
those whom he has sanctifed, that is, those who believe
in him. Tus, though not the primary purpose of the arti-
cles, Melanchthon has still provided a clear espousal of
the Reformation teachings of sola gratia and sola fdei; his
purpose in introducing these ideas becomes clear in the
following articles.
Articles IVVI form the heart and center of the
Augsburg Confession and inform all of the preceding
and following articles. Tese brief articles defne what it
Luthers followers,
like Luther himself,
lived under the
threat of martyrdom.
In some cases, they
were imprisoned and
deprived of their
livelihoods. In others,
they offered their very
lives as a confession of
their faith.
39
means to be evangelical. Foremost among these is article
IV which reads:
Our churches also teach that men cannot be jus-
tifed before God by their own strength, merits
or works but are freely justifed for Christs sake
through faith when they believe that they are
received into favor and that their sins are forgiven
for of Christs sake. By His death, Christ made
satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for
righteousness in His sight (Rom. 34).
Coming immediately upon the heels of this statement
concerning justifcation by faith apart from works is the
article on the ministry of the church. One must recall that
originally there were no titles separating the articles of the
Confession, and thus, we fnd the important introductory
words of Article V: Ut hanc fdem consequamur. Tis
article takes the thought of Article IV and develops the
thought more fully:
In order that we may obtain this faith, the ministry
of teaching the Gospel and administering the sac-
raments was instituted. For through the Word and
the sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy
Spirit is given, and the Holy Spirit produces faith,
where and when it pleases God, in those who hear
the Gospel. Tat is to say, it is not on account of our
own merits, but on account of Christ. Tat God
justifes those who believe that they are received
into favor for Christs sake.
Furthermore, article VI also develops the personal
ramifcations of the article of justifcation as it pertains to
the individual and his Christian life when it begins, Item
docent, quod fdes debat bonos fructus parere:
Our churches also teach that this faith is bound to
bring forth good fruits and that it is necessary to
do the good works commanded by God. We must
do so because it is Gods will and not because we
rely on such works to merit justifcation before
God, for forgiveness of sins and justifcation are
apprehended by faith, as Christ himself also testi-
fes, When you have done all these things, say `we
are unproftable servants (Luke 17:10).
One of the most obvious of these good fruits is the
life of faith in Christ lived out in the context of the cross.
Article XX, paragraphs 3540, captures this reality:
Hence it may be readily seen that this doctrine is
not to be charged with prohibiting good works,
but rather the more to be commended, because it
shows how we are enabled to do good works. For
without faith human nature can in no wise do the
works of the First or of the Second Command-
ment. Without faith it does not call upon God,
nor expect anything from God, nor bear the cross,
but seeks and trusts in mans help. And thus, when
there is no faith and trust in God all manner of
lusts and human devices rule in the heart. Where-
fore Christ said, John 15:5: Without Me ye can do
nothing; and the Church sings:
Lacking Ty divine favor,
Tere is nothing found in man,
Naught in him is harmless.
Te Roman Catholic Confutation responded to Article
20 of the Augustana by stating:
In the 20th article, which does not contain so
much the confession of the princes and cities
as the defense of the preachers, there is only one
thing that pertains to the princes and cities: viz.
concerning good works that they do not merit
the remission of sins, which, as it has been rejected
and disapproved before, is also rejected and dis-
approved now. For the passage in Daniel is very
familiar: Redeem thy sins with alms, Dan. 4:27;
and the address of Tobit to his son: Alms do
deliver from death and sufereth not to come into
darkness, Tobit 4:10; and that of Christ: Give
alms of such things as ye have, and behold all
things are clean unto you, Luke 11:41. If works
were not meritorious, why would the wise man
say: God will render a reward of the labors of his
saints? Wisd. 10:17. Why would St. Peter so ear-
nestly exhort to good works, saying: Wherefore
the rather, brethren, give diligence by good works
to make your calling and election sure? 2 Pet.
1:19. Why would St. Paul have said: God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love,
which ye have showed toward his name? Heb.
6:10. Nor by this do we reject Christs merit, but we
know that our works are nothing and of no merit
unless by virtue of Christs passion. We know that
Christ is the way, the truth and the life.John 14:6.
But Christ, as the Good Shepherd, who began to
do and teach, Acts 1:1, has given us an example
that as he has done, we also should do, John 13:15.
He also went through the desert by the way of
good works, which all Christians ought to pursue,
and according to his command, bear the cross and
follow him. Matt. 10:38; 16:24. He who bears not
the cross, neither is nor can be Christs disciple.
In response to the Roman party, Melanchthonstrongly
countered this argument in Apology IV, Of Human Tra-
ditions in the Church:
45] And of the mortifcation of the fesh and dis-
cipline of the body we thus teach, just as the
Confession states, that a true and not a feigned
mortifcation occurs through the cross and afic-
tions by which God exercises us (when God breaks
our will, inficts the cross and trouble). In these
we must obey Gods will, as Paul says, Rom. 12:1:
Present your bodies a living sacrifce. And these
are the spiritual exercises of fear and faith. 46] But
in addition to this mortifcation
which occurs through the cross
[which does not depend upon our
will] there is also a voluntary kind
of exercise necessary, of which
Christ says, Luke 21:34: Take heed
to yourselves lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with sur-
feiting. And Paul, 1 Cor. 9:27: I
keep under my body, and bring it
into subjection, etc. 47] And these
exercises are to be undertaken not
because they are services that jus-
tify, but in order to curb the fesh,
lest satiety may overpower us, and
render us secure and indiferent,
the result of which is that men indulge and obey
the dispositions of the fesh. Tis diligence ought
to be perpetual, 48] because it has the perpetual
command of God. And this prescribed form of cer-
tain meats and times does nothing [as experience
shows] toward curbing the fesh. For it is more lux-
urious and sumptuous than other feasts [for they
were at greater expense, and practiced greater glut-
tony with fsh and various Lenten meats than when
the fasts were not observed], and not even the
adversaries observe the form given in the canons.
The Death of Luther and the Interims Context
for Martyrdom and Confession
Luther had consistently expected to die during the great
part of his adult life either from bad health or at the
hand of his antagonists. He lived until Feb. 18, 1546.
Shortly afer his death, martyrdom and the cross came
upon his followers.
In June 1546, roughly four months following Luthers
death, Charles V entered into his German War against the
Smalcaldic League and soundly defeated the league at the
battle of Mhlberg on the Elbe, April 24, 1547.
7
Follow-
ing his victory at Mhlberg, Charles convened what has
come to be known as the Armored Diet at Augsburg
(due to the presence of Charles army). Charles, elated
with his victory over the German princes, promised he
would teach the Germans Spanish. Te Diet produced
the document known as the Augsburg Interim, written
by Julius Pfug, Michael Helding and the Lutheran Johann
Agricola, which was pronounced by the emperor May 15,
1548. Te purpose of this document was both theological
and political in orientation; it sought
to regulate outwardly and temporally
the afairs of the church, until the
Council of Trent would fnally settle
the religious controversy precipitated
by the evangelicals. It reintroduced
many of the abolished Roman Cath-
olic practices such as the jurisdiction
of bishops, transubstantiation and
the seven sacraments. Tese empha-
ses led to the characterization that
the document was a frst step back
toward the full Catholization of the
evangelical churches.
Teologically, the document was
crafily constructed. Julius Pfug
incorporated much Romanist theology into the docu-
ment, but did so in terms that some Lutherans found
acceptable. It efectively neutralized the battering ram of
the Reformation, the twin points of marriage of priests
and communion in both kinds, by building these points
into the Interim, thus robbing the evangelicals of one of
their most efective propaganda elements.
Following the proclamation of the Interim, Charles V
went forth with his army and began to subjugate south-
ern Germany to the Interim. Te army was followed by
7
Tis war has generally come to be called the Smalcald War. Let the
reader keep in mind the purposes of Charles V in pursuing this tact.
He was not simply a power hungry despot, but felt he was serving
God and the church by trying to restore political and religious unity
to the Holy Roman Empire. See above note 2. For treatments of the
Smalcald League see Tomas A. Brady, Jr., Phases and Strategies of
the Schmalkaldic League: A Perspective afer 450 Years, Archiv fr
Reformationgeschichte 74 (1983), 162181; Teodore Hoyer, Te
Rise and Fall of the Schmalkaldic League: Te Treaty of Passau, 1552,
Concordia Teological Monthly 23 (1952), 401417 and Te Religious
Peace of Augsburg, Concordia Teological Monthly 26 (1955), 820830.
While there were
not a large number of
Lutheran martyrs, their
presence is irrefutable.
Confessing the faith
once delivered to the
saints in accordance
with the Augsburg
Confession placed
one in a dangerous
situation.
41
priests who reconsecrated the cathedrals of the South to
the Roman Catholic Church. Cities such as Strassburg,
Ulm and Constance were subjected to the Interim, and
political power was transferred from protestant families
to those loyal to Charles Habsburg agenda.
Meanwhile, Moritz of Saxony, who had betrayed
Ernestine Saxony and usurped the electoral authority to
himself by making a treaty with Charles V to the efect
that Moritz would fght with the emperor in return for
the guarantee of territory
8
and the title of elector, helped
the emperor in his eforts to subjugate Elector John
Frederick by invading his land while he was away in the
Smalcald War. But Moritz was uncomfortable with the
provisions of the Interim and sought a Saxon solution
that would enable him to gain the support of his evangel-
ical subjects and at the same time keep the emperor from
invading Saxony.
9

Moritzs solution to the problem was to scheme to
bring about a document that would satisfy the emperor
both theologically and politically. He held a number
of meetings in the summer and fall of 1548 to try and
achieve this end. Te frst meeting was held in Meissen
and the introduction to the Interim was read. Te clause
in the Interim that states that the Interim only applied
to Lutherans and not genuine Roman Catholics exposed
the document as a means to bring the Lutherans back
into the Roman fold. At this time, the Lutherans looked
to Philip Melanchthon for leadership. It was a time for
confessing, but Melanchthon was not up to the challenge.
Politically, he feared for the safety of the church, and
thus he formulated his position in terms of spectator-
ship, making a distinction between the private opinions
of the theologians and the public afairs of the Princes.
Melanchthons position was consistent, however; being
a humanist, he held to the Greek principle that truth
emerges through discussion and dialogue. Melanchthon
was challenged in his views by Matthias Flacius Illyricus.
10

8
Namely, the protectorate of the bishops of Magdeburg and
Halberstadt.
9
Te fear that motivated Moritz toward this end should not be
underestimated; he expected the emperor to invade Saxony at any time
and subject it to the same treatment which southern Germany had
experienced.
10
Flacius, a former student of Luther, was at this time living in
Wittenberg. For background on Flacius see Oliver K. Olson, Matthias
Flacius Illyricus, 15201575, in Shapers of Religious Traditions in
Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, ed. Jill Raitt (New Haven and
London: Yale University Pres, 1981), 117; Oliver K. Olson, Te
Importance of Matija Vlacic, Dialogue 15 (Summer 1976), 20206;
Jrg Baur, Flacius Radikale Teologie, Zeitschrif fr Teologie und
Kirche 72 (December 1975), 36580.
Flacius held, as Luther had before him, that Gods truth is
revealed in the Word and that the preaching of the Word
of Truth binds one. Melanchthons view held the feld at
Meissen; he saw only the danger of confession and pro-
posed that each individual must decide these matters of
conscience personally.
Moritz, still seeking an answer, called a meeting at
Pegau, to which he invited Bishops Pfug and Helding.
Pfug refused to bend on the question of the Mass Canon.
Melanchthon, on the other hand, yielded on justifcation
by faith alone, thus bowing to the pressure of Pfug, who
sought to make room for the freedom of the will. Pfug
held that wile man cannot begin salvation, he is moved
by the Spirit to good works which are meritorious. Tus
the conclusion of Pegau is a compromise that gives up the
evangelical principle of justifcation by faith alone both
faith and works are afrmed.
Afer Pegau, the idea of producing Saxon exceptions
to the Interim emerged through the infuence of Joachim
of Brandenburg. At Torgau, the arguments began to shif
from the theologians to the secular counselors, to whose
ideas the theologians would subsequently react. Mel-
anchthon continued to urge caution; Flacius implored
confession. Many of the Roman Catholic rites begin to
fnd their way into the compromise documents (e.g., con-
frmation, the Litany etc.).
At Altzelle in the fall, Flacius realized the practi-
cal implications of the interim; gradual reintroduction
of Roman rites on the way toward full restoration. In
response, he coined the phrase casu confessionis, which
expressed the principle that if a government required
the use of a rite neither commanded nor forbidden by
Scripture, it became a matter of confession and one
was conscience-bound to defy the order for the sake
of the Gospel.
11

In November 1548, Saxon court ofcials presented a
list of ceremonies to be reintroduced into the Lutheran
Church. Tey also reestablished the authority of the pope
and bishops. For all intents and purposes they yielded the
entire Reformation. In the end, Melanchthon fnally drew
the line on two matters: 1. the Mass Canon; and 2. the
11
Te wearing of the white surplice became the symbol of this
principle. Flacius held that those who robed themselves with the white
surplice under the command of the government denied the Gospel. Te
principle served to establish a line of demarcation; this is how far one
could go and absolutely no farther. Nihil adiaphoron in casu confessionis
et scandali. Bernard J. Verkamp, Te Limits upon Adiaphoristic
Freedom: Luther and Melanchthon, Teological Studies 36 (March
1975), 5276.
blessing of things (consecrating oil). By achieving these
two things, he felt that he had saved the Reformation
from the hands of the papacy.
Moritzs Saxon compromise was accepted Dec. 22,
1548. However, it was never efectually practiced. Tough
Prince George von Anhalt completed by the spring of
1549 a Kirchen Ordnung that refected the essentials of the
Saxon compromise, mysteriously the emperor removed
pressure from the Saxons in the frst half of 1548, and so
the need for compromise disappeared. Further, the docu-
ment itself was not published, though epitome editions of
it did appear with irregularity during the autumn of 1549.
Te document itself is very complex and confusing. It
refects Melanchthons theology and some have claimed
that it may be an accurate portrayal of his true positions,
which he had kept hidden for so long. In it, he puts forth
the positions in which he would correct some of the more
dangerous ideas of Luther (e.g., justifcation by faith
alone). At the same time, pressed into this Melanchtho-
nian work were certain propositions of Julius Pfug, the
most famous of which is his statement concerning the
freedom of the will, namely, that God does not draw
man to salvation as a block or a stone.
12
Still, the Flacians
immediately saw the dangers of the positions put forth at
the preliminary meetings to Leipzig. It now remained for
them to combat the prevailing view of Melanchthon and
his followers (appropriately called Philippists), much to
the Princes chagrin.
13

The Magdeburg Confession
Flacius realized that he could not function most efectively
while under the direct gaze of Melanchthon and thus lef
Wittenberg in 1549. He eventually came to Magdeburg,
where the last vestige of political and military resistance
against the eforts of Charles V and Moritz was to be
12
Although God does not justify man by the merit of his own works
which man does, but out of mercy, freely, without our merit, that the
glory may not be ours, but Christs, through whose merit alone we
are redeemed from sins and justifed, yet the merciful God does not
work with man as with a block, but draws him, so that his will also
co-operates if he be of understanding years. Leipzig Interim, How Man
is Justifed before God, in Henry Eyster Jacobs, Te Book of Concord; or
the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. With Historical
Introduction, Notes, Appendexes and Indexes (Philadelphia: G. W.
Frederick, 1893), 2:262.
13
One efort in which Flacius was fully victorious dealt with the
compromise document itself. In a brilliant propaganda move, Flacius
immediately dubbed the compromise document the Leipzig Interim,
thus attaching it inseparable in the minds of those who heard the title
to the document it sought to replace, namely the hated Augsburg
Interim. Te work never lost the stigma attached to this epithet, though
the original formulators never intended such a title for it.
found. In Magdeburg were Lutherans who held that they
were truly committed to the doctrine which Luther him-
self had taught and which Melanchthon and Wittenberg
had surrendered.
14
From this small pocket of resistance
was soon to come forth one of the most pronounced of
Lutheran Confessions of the 16th century.
Due to the continued military resistance on the part
of the city of Magdeburg, Moritz was required, follow-
ing the instigation of the imperial ban against the city,
to put an end to the uprising. Tis Moritz did in earnest,
though the city, militarily outnumbered six-to-one, sang
about themselves as the last remnant of Luthers cause
modern Maccabees.
15

Tat the city was willing to resist the eforts of the
Elector proceeds from their understanding of Luthers
doctrine of resistance. Luthers early writings against the
Peasants Revolt and his clear separation of the temporal
and spiritual realms gave way over time to a doctrine of
resistance to the secular government, when it became
manifest that authority would not permit the free proc-
lamation of the Gospel. Manfred Hofman summarizes
Luthers later thought in the following manner:
In order to preserve external life in this world
God has instituted three orders, the political, eco-
nomic and the ecclesiastical, which one and all are
endorsed and sustained by Gods authority in the
frst table. In other words, Christ did not abrogate
political and natural law but authenticated and
confrmed it. Te private citizens right to self-de-
fense is therewith afrmed. On this basis Luther
develops now the argument that the pope, and
the emperor as his henchman, must be resisted
by everyone because the pontif belongs to none
of the three orders and therefore possesses public
authority in neither. Yet since he interferes destruc-
tively in all of them he is the apocalyptic beast
14
Robert Kolb describes the two opposing parties (Parties, Princes,
Pastors, and Peace, Academy 34 [1977], 4): Politically, both parties
welcomed the assistance of the prince, but the Philippists were more
ready to compromise their own positions to avoid tensions with their
government. In contrast, Gnesio-Lutherans vociferously objected to
governmental interference in the afairs of the church, and a number of
them were sent into exile a several more than once for resisting
the encroachment of the powers of the prince of the city council in
the domain of the church. Ecclesiastically the Philippists ofen favored
continuing medieval usages (such as liturgical practices) while the
Gnesio-Lutheran were generally more anxious to cleanse remnants of
papism from ecclesiastical usages.
15
Olson, Flacius, 4. For a brief description of the siege see Ronald
Ernst Diener, Te Magdeburg Centuries: A Bibliothecal and
Historiographal Analysis, Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1978, 3136.
43
from the abyss Daniel prophesied (11:36), or, in
Pauls words (II. Tess.2:3), the adversary of God,
the man of sin, the son of perdition. Tis rabid
animal must be promptly slain by anyone coming
upon it. And the emperor, making common cause
with it, must be resisted by anyone being coerced
into false worship. Such is the unavoidable neces-
sity in this time of extreme calamity.
16

Te Magdeburgers professed that they were follow-
ing the tradition of thought frst established by Luther,
and as such, were not the ones who had transgressed the
law of God. In actuality, they themselves were the rem-
nant of God who alone confessed him truly in the present
age. As such, they made arrangements to make their con-
fession known throughout the land that others might
behold the truth of the Gospel as it was still confessed
at Magdeburg.
17
Te document that came forth, signed by the pastors
and other ministers of the Magdeburg Church, set forth
the doctrine of the inferior magistrates. Hildebrandt
writes:
Te main argument in this document was that
the Gospel permits all natural protection autho-
rized by natural laws, even where the emperor was
concerned, and also that princes had an absolute
16 Manfred Hofman, Martin Luther: Resistance to Secular Authority,
Te Journal of the Interdenominational Teological Center 12 (198485),
47. See also Quentin Skinner, Te Foundations of Modern Political
Tought, 2 volumes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978),
199202. Skinner here concludes on the basis of a passage from Luthers
table Talks (202): Te implication is that if he (the emperor) fails to
perform the duties for the sake of which he has been constituted a
public person, it is lawful to resist him in the same way that we are
permitted to resist any other private individual who ofers us unjust
violence. See also Tomas A. Brady, Jr., Luther and the State: Te
Reformers Teaching in its Social Setting, in Luther and the State in
Modern Germany, edited by James D. Tracy, Sixteenth Century Essays
& Studies; v. 7 (Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal Publications,
1986), 40: Luthers fear of disorder and mistrust of the Common Man
endured through his career. Tey were not touched by volte-face afer
the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, when he reversed his condemnation
of resistance to the emperor. At most this decision, which smoothed
his princes path into the Schmalkaldic League, represents a shif in
his location of true authority (Obrigkeit) from the emperor to the
princes. Nor did the famous afrmation of resistance by Lutheran
pastors at Magdeburg in 1550 contradict this picture, for the principle
involved there the duty of inferior magistrates to resist under certain
circumstances derived from Martin Bucer and Landgrave Philip of
Hesse, not from Luther and Saxony.
17
Esther Hildebrandt (Te Magdeburg Bekenntnis as a Possible Link
Between German and English Resistance Teories in the Sixteenth
Century, Archiv fr Reformationsgeschichte 71 [1980], 234) writes: Te
confession was therefore never intended to be of interest simply to
the Magdeburgers themselves, and this was made quite clear near the
beginning of the treatise where it was stated that it was hoped that what
was said would encourage Protestants everywhere.
duty to defend the true Christian religion and
their subjects against threats or attacks from fellow
princes, or indeed the emperor. Tey were entitled,
and obliged, to resist the Popes attempts to re-es-
tablish idolatry in their territories, just as if the
Turks were trying to introduce the Islamic religion
into Germany.
18

Further, this doctrine which the Magdeburgers pro-
fessed was not fanatical, that is to say, unknown in the
history of the empire.
But it is of crucial signifcance that the Magde-
burg pastors avoided the notion of the radical
reformation that each human being had some
inherent right to resist. Te distinction from the
radical reformers or the Schwrmer, as they once
were called, is that the Magdeburg pastors speci-
fed that the obligatory resistance was to be carried
out through the structures of concrete Christian
vocations (mter) It was that combination, the
doctrine of obligatory resistance (approved by the
Formula of Concord) and the related doctrine of
vocation, which made up the historically success-
ful doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates.
19

Te Magdeburg confessors did not seek the desig-
nation of radicals for themselves, nor did they seek
political anarchy. Teir actions arose from a responsible
conviction that they held to the true teaching of Luther
and that it was their God-given responsibility to ensure
that they maintained the evangelical principle, even if it
meant that they had to face persecution because of it.
Yet a crucial question remains: How can one rec-
oncile the doctrine of resistance in the face of Luthers
earlier advice to serve God by serving ones neigh-
bor with the Magdeburg Confessions doctrine of the
18
Hildebrandt, 230; Oliver K. Olson, Teology of Revolution:
Magdeburg, 15501551, Te Sixteenth Century Journal 3 (April
1972), 67: It is quite clear, then, that in Magdeburg religious impulse
and political tradition conspired together, so that their efects were
mutually increased. Magdeburgs political power came directly from
God himself and that should the situation demand it her [sic] might be
directed against an erring emperor himself.
19
Oliver K. Olson, Politics, Liturgics, and Integritas Sacramenti, in
Discord, Dialogue and Concord: Studies in the Lutheran Reformations
Formula of Concord, edited by Lewis W. Spitz and Wenzel Lohf,
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), 78. Hildebrandt also writes (231):
Tis idea that the princes and inferior magistrates held their power
direct from God in their own right contributed to a notion of corporate
responsibility toward the empire which could, if necessary, bypass
the emperor himself. Te emphasis on the electors as a collegial body,
ruling with the emperor, and possessing the power to depose him, was
traditional, as was the concept of the integral role which all the princes
played in the government of the empire.
Lesser Magistrate?
In the 19th century, Heinrich Heppe wrote, In the
Magdeburg Confession for the frst time the statement
that Luther was the prophet sent from God, whose voice
is the only valid one in the church, is a dogmatic state-
ment.
20
Tis is certainly a provocative statement, and in
a certain sense, an accurate one. For in the Magdeburg
Confession
21
one fnds the frst occurrence of Luthers
writings acting as a normative principle for the Lutheran
Church. But though this may seem too dogmatic and a
rejection of the protestant principle, in fact it is not. Te
Magdeburgers confess that their theology is in accord
with Luthers, who in turn gave form to the Augsburg
Confession, which itself is a catholic document pro-
ceeding from the Scriptures themselves.
22
Te work is
20
Heinrich Heppe, Die Enstehung und Fortbildung des Luthertums
(Cassel: J. C. Kreigerschen Buchhandlung, 1863), 213. Heppes thought
has recently been characterized with the label melanchthonian. If
this is truly the case, and the author who made this representation
builds a good case, then Heppes remarks in this regard become more
understandable. Lowell H. Zuck, Heinrich Heppe: A Melanchthonian
Liberal in the Nineteenth Century German-Reformed Church, Church
History 51 (December 1982), 419433. Zuck asserts (42426) that
Heppe believed that evangelical Protestantism entered history as a
longing for personal redemption, not as a dogma and a doctrine. Not
surprisingly he found fault with the Genuine Lutheran (Flacian)
party which appealed to an excessively literal understanding of
Luthers teachings and was no longer content with grounding its
Protestant tenets on scripture but constructed a system in which every
proposition had its unalterable dogmatic background. See also Lowell
H. Zuck, Melanchthonianism and Reformed Teology in the Late
Sixteenth Century in Controversy and Conciliation: Te Reformation
and the Palatinate, edited by Derk Visser (Allison Park, PA: Pickwick
Publications, 1986).
21
Te German title is Bekenntnis Unterricht und Vermanung der
Pfarrhern und der Prediger der Christlichen Kirchen zu Magdeburg
(Magdeburg: 1550). Te confession will hereafer be abbreviated
MC. Te text of the confession incorporated in this paper is from a
translation by Oliver K. Olson, formerly of Marquette University. A
recent translation appeared just afer this essay was prepared. See Te
Magdeburg Confession: 13th of April 1550 AD, Matthew Colvin, trans.,
George Grant, intro (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,
2012). See also David M. Whitford, Tyranny and Resistance: Te
Magdeburg Confession and the Lutheran Tradition (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 2001).
22
Heppes criticism is inaccurate in that it sees Luther as the only voice
that has normative value for the church. In fact the Magdeburgers
use Luther as a norm only in so far as he agrees with the principle of
justifcation by faith as held by the church catholic throughout the ages.
Te progression is as follows (MC, preface): First, then, in this text
we simply repeat in brief, and will not now dispute, the chief articles
of doctrine brought to light by Luther and presented at Augsburg
as Christian, orthodox and catholic, and until now unconquered, as
those which agree with the prophetic and apostolic doctrine, with
the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian creed, together with the purer
church of all times. Again the author writes (MC, Chief Articles of
Christian Doctrine): We refer the reader to the many writing of the
man of God, Martin Luther, and of those like him, for a more complete
treatment and for solid foundations. And as ofen as necessary we
characterized throughout by a frm upholding of the doc-
trine of justifcation by faith.
Still the formal principle is very prominent in the pref-
ace where Luther is mentioned no less than nine times.
Te writer here does not invoke Luther simply as an
authority in his own right, but because Luther is a sure
and certain place to fnd the evangelical principle expli-
cated. Luther, in the organic tradition of the Scripture,
the ecumenical creeds and the Augsburg Confession, has
professed the concept of justifcation by faith and there-
fore is a trustworthy authority on this matter. Not that
Luther or the creeds take precedence over the Scriptures,
for the Word of God alone is the basis on which the Mag-
deburgers build. Te Major premise we shall prove in the
second part of our book with solid arguments from the
Word of God.
23
Like both the Augsburg Confession and
Smalcald Articles, Scripture is not referred to in a mere
formal sense, as a disjointed reservoir of texts that can be
dipped into simply to prove a point, rather the Scripture
is solicited as evidence of the parity between the Gospel
which they proclaim and which is likewise incorporated
into the Magdeburg text.
24

Still Luther and his doctrine as expressed in the
Augsburg Confession remain the gauge by which doc-
trine is judged. Why such a strong emphasis on Luther?
Te Smalcald League had been recently defeated, and
the Interim imposed by the emperor, but far worse, the
evangelicals themselves had capitulated the center of the
Reformation and the confession of Luther to the Roman-
ists by giving up the sola gratia in the Leipzig Interim. Te
historical situation of the Magdeburgers forced them to
include, as strongly as they did, the subscription to the
writings of Luther. Tey felt that unless they confessed the
work of this man of God, it would be lost forever.
25
ourselves are ready to demonstrate the sources and true foundations of
all this doctrine and of our confession from the prophetic scriptures,
the apostles and the consensus of he purer church of all ages. Tis
citation marks the only mention of Luther in the doctrinal section of
the Magdeburg Confession apart from the epilogue. Still, though Heppe
wrote in a negative sense, it is likely the Magdeburgers would have
taken it as the highest honor.
23
MC, Syllogism.
24
See above notes 9 and 24.
25
Heppe fails to take into account the historical circumstances which
led to the Magdeburgers motives in producing the Confession. As a
result his criticism mentioned above is too strong. Te Magdeburg
Confession appeals to Luther because he agrees with the purer church
of all ages and because his confession is in danger of disappearing.
45
Nevertheless, the confession of Luthers, which
is the doctrine of Christ himself, was frst made at
Augsburg, out of the deep faith and to the glory
of the confessors, not, once again in Augsburg, has
been cast aside through a horrible crime against the
conscience by many German princes and estates,
subdued only the fortune of the recent war.
26
So we fnd in the Magdeburg Confession that Luther
is appealed to as a formal principle, derived from and
standing in the stream of the church catholic. As such,
he is depicted in both prophetic and Pauline terms. Te
frst sentence of the preface reads: By his immense favor,
God raised up Dr. Martin Luther, without doubt, the third
Elijah,
27
who proved this status with many signal testi-
monies and successes.
28
Further, he delivered to us the
articles of doctrine which enable us to confess Christ
as did the thief on the cross.
29
Additionally, by bring-
ing these doctrines to light, Luther inspired the German
princes to present before Caesar and the whole Roman
Empire the truth of the Gospel so that the poor sheep
with only this confession of truth immediately stopped
the mouths and jaws of the hostile wolves.
30

However, all talk of a formal principle in this docu-
ment presupposes a material principle that guides and
governs the whole piece. Te frst section of the document
is divided into seven sections: 1. God and the distinction
of persons; 2. Creation, the cause of sin and the chief
kinds of sin; 3. Law; 4. the Gospel and Justifcation; 5. the
Sacraments; 6. the Church, its ministers and their powers;
7. the political and domestic orders and the powers of
each. Tis arrangement proceeds from the Confessors
purpose of explicating the Christian faith according to
Luthers, as expressed in the Augsburg Confession and the
26
MC, Preface.
27
Te referent here is Mal. 4:56: Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts
of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a
curse. Tis coming was fulflled in the person of John the Baptist (see
Luke 1:17). Te frst to call Luther the third Elijah was Zwingli, who
did so in 1519.
28
Te language here invokes the biblical picture portrayed in
Joshua 1:69.
29
See 1 Cor. 15:3 where Paul tells of how he delivered over to you as of
frst importance the doctrine of Christs atonement and the Sacrament
of the Altar.
30
Te imagery here conjures up the impression of Paul appealing to
Caesar and testifying before him, as well as the early Christian accounts
of the martyrs (see Te Passion of Perpetua and Feliciats, chapter 6, in
Te Acts of the Christian Martyrs, edited by Herbert Musurillo [Oxford
University Press, 1972]).
church catholic, as it fnds application in the doctrine of
resistance.
Te reason for this division: All knowledge of God
is knowledge whether of his nature or of his will;
disclosed whether in creation or in his revealed
Word, so that by the ministry of law, Gospel and
sacraments through men called to this ministry a
church may be brought forth, and that the domes-
tic and the political orders should serve primarily
the growth of the church, or, when they do not
pursue the latter goal, that they serve at least civil
society.
31

Tese articles are arranged in such a manner as to
present the chief articles of faith as confessed by the evan-
gelical party in the church with the result that the reader
will see that the application of the evangelical principle in
the Magdeburgers context was the doctrine of resistance.
As in the cases of both the Augsburg Confession and
the Smalcald Articles, the chief unifying thought of the
Magdeburg Confession is its insistence on the doctrine of
justifcation by faith. In this sense the Magdeburg Confes-
sion is truly a Lutheran confession. In like manner to its
predecessor, the Augsburg Confession, the article on God
contains the Nicene reference to the Trinity and the Chal-
cedonian formulation concerning the person of Christ
and breaches the article of sola fde:
He will render to each one according to his
deeds, that is, to those who have repented and
believed in Him, He will grant possession of the
divine inheritance in eternal life; the others (who
are) impenitent and unbelieving He will subject
together with the devils to the punishment of dam-
nation and eternal death.
32

In the article on the law, one fnds a positive statement
of the evangelical principle.
For God does not want to show His own will in
the law, that men by performing the law can attain
justice and life though its works, or that they
ought to strive to attain (these), but that despair-
ing and frightened by their sins and the wrath of
God against their sins, they, mortifed by the law,
seek and receive in the Gospel liberation obtained
through Christ, from sin, from the wrath of God
and death and have righteousness through faith
31
MC, Te Chief Articles of Doctrine.
32
MC, Chief Articles, Chapter 1.
in Him.
33

Te article on justifcation, Chapter 4 in the
Confession, forms the heart and center of the document.
It is the longest article in the Confession and presents
the Reformation teachings of Solus Christus,
34
forensic
application of Christs righteousness,
35
sola fdei,
36
alien
righteousness
37
and others. Te evangelical principle is
explicated with all force as the nucleus of the Christian
faith and the means by which all doctrine is to be judged.
Article afer article is determined by the principles of sola
gratia and sola fdei as explicated in Chapter 4.
So, when the Confession rejects the views of the other
parties, it also does so solely on the basis of the article of
justifcation. Te adiaphorists, including Philip Melanch-
thon especially, are rejected because they 1) do not ofer a
distinction between inherent righteousness and the alien
righteousness of Christ; 2) they reject the exclusivum,
namely, that man is justifed sola fdei and say that good
works are necessary to salvation; and 3) they hold to the
freedom of the will before the coming of the Holy Spir-
it.
38
Te case with the Papists and other sects is similar.
Te afnity that the Magdeburg Confession displays to
Luthers language concerning the papacy in the Smalcald
Articles is striking:
Tey give him (the pope) power not only over the
living but also over the dead and over the angels
themselves. By these things it comes to pass that
instead of the Vicar of Christ, he is truly the Vicar
of the devil, and Antichrist, ruling in the temple of
God, as prophesied by Daniel, Christ and Paul.
39

Tus, when we come to the seventh chapter, which
acts as a springboard into section two on the doctrine of
the lesser magistrates, we fnd the necessary application of
the evangelical principle.
In these things, just as the subjects of necessity owe
33
MC, Chief Article, Chapter 3.
34
by him and on account of him alone he freely wills to recover those
who repent and believe in the name of his Son.
35
When God remits or does not impute sin to a man, to whoever he
wills, when together with that remission is conjoined absolution from
the punishment of eternal death, as is a courtroom remission of the
guilt has added remission of the civil penalty.
36
Te application (of Christs righteousness) is made by faith alone in
adults who repent in this manner.
37
God at the same time also imputes the total righteousness of
the Son, that is, he pronounces that they have all the virtues of his
Son, and so in his sight they are just with an alien, or (Christs) own
righteousness.
38
MC, Chief Articles, Chapter 6, 10.
39
obedience to their magistrates, the children and
the rest of the family to their parents and to the
Lord, for the sake of God, so also by contrast, when
magistrates and parents, themselves seduce their
(charges) from true piety and decency, they are not
owed obedience from the Word of God; for when
they make a practice of persecuting true piety and
decency, then they empty themselves of the honor
of the magistrate and parents in Gods sight, and
the consciences of their charges and from the ordi-
nation of God are now made the ordination of the
devil, against whose order their can and ought to
be resistance.
40

Tus, when the Magdeburg Confession appealed to
the writings of Luther for the justifcation of its position,
it did so not simply in a formal sense, but rather invoked
the evangelical principles of sola gratia and sola fdei,
which were embodied in the writings of Luther.
41
Like
the Augsburg Confession and Luther in the Smalcald
Articles, the Magdeburg Confession is a document cen-
tered on the principles of sola gratia and sola fdei as
a type of all-Christian confession. Te Confession is a
pastoral document that rehearses the evangelical faith
in such a manner as to show its application in the life of
the Christian, when he must obey God rather than men.
Tis principle proceeds from the articles of sola gratia and
sola fdei as their natural outgrowth, just as the confessors
entered their protest at Speyer in 1529 and assembled
before the Empire at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. Tis
same principle moved Luther to compose his Smalcald
Articles as both his testament of faith and for presenta-
tion to the proposed council at Mantua, and now it fnds
expression in the persecution that has come upon the city
of Magdeburg, on account of its refusal to concede to the
papistic Interims. Te confessors of Magdeburg do not
simply dogmatize the evangelical principle on the basis
40
41
Te Formula of Concord followed the Magdeburg Confession in this
point. Seebass writes (78): only those writings were included in the
Formula of Concord in which Luther reinterpreted the confessional
and catechetic tradition of the church. Te choice thus decided was not
only historic but was, in a deeper sense, also substantially motivated.
And again (79): It could seem that the Formula of Concord had
elevated Luther and his writings to the canon of the confessions of faith.
Tis, however, did not happen. Te formula intended to accept Luther
only `in wisdom and measure, as Doctor Luther . . . expressly asserts
by way of distinction that the Word of God is and remains the sole
rule and norm of all doctrine, and that no ones writings dare to be put
on a par with it, but that everything must be subjected to it. Luthers
writings are indirectly subordinated to confessional writings, and these
themselves are considered the key to the Scripture and guide to its use.
47
of Luthers writings as a formal principle; they were faced
with a life and death battle for the very survival of Luthers
confession. Melanchthon and the Philippists had betrayed
the doctrine of the Lutheran Church as embodied in the
Augsburg Confession and Smalcald Articles. At the risk
of their goods, fame children and wives, the pastors and
other ministers of the Magdeburg Church confessed the
truth of the Gospel as it had been handed over to them by
their spiritual father, Martin Luther. Tey were ready to
face martyrdom and the cross. And they did.
Examples of Martyrdom: Antonius Corvinus and
Baldo Lupetino
Luthers followers, like Luther himself, lived under the
threat of martyrdom. In some cases, they were impris-
oned and deprived of their livelihoods. In others, they
ofered their very lives as a confession of their faith. Two
examples follow:
Antonio Corvinus was born Feb. 27, 1501.
42
Given his
uncertain parentage (he may have been a bastard), it is not
surprising to fnd that he entered the Cistercian monas-
tery in Loccum, Lower Saxony, in 1519. Shortly thereafer,
he became a supporter of Luther and was driven out. He
used the opportunity to study at Wittenberg under Luther
and Melanchthon, and later served pastorates in Goslar
and Witzenhausen. He advised Philip of Hesse, drafed a
church order, and led the reformation in northern areas
of Germany.
In 1548, the Roman Catholic ruler Erich II (of Braun-
schweig-Calenberg-Gttingen) accepted the Augsburg
Interim. Corvinus, along with other Lutheran pastors,
protested vigorously against the Interim, which led to his
arrest and jailing, Nov. 2, 1549.
Shortly before his incarceration, he wrote to Mel-
anchthon and encouraged him to reject the Interim,
also encouraging him to return to his pristine candor,
his pristine sincerity and his pristine constancy, and
to think, say, write and do what is becoming to Philip,
the Christian teacher, not the court philosopher. Peace,
indeed, was desirable, but it must not be obtained by dis-
tracting the churches. Christ had also declared that He did
not come to bring peace, but the sword. Even the pagan
Horace has said: Si fractus illabitur orbis, impavidum
42
Nanne van der Zijpp, Corvinus, Antonius (15011553), Global
Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, http://www.gameo.org/
index.php?title=Corvinus,_Antonius_(1501-1553, accessed August 4,
2013.
ferient ruinae. How much more should Christians avoid
cowardice! One must not court the cross wantonly, but it
must be borne courageously when for the sake of truth it
cannot be avoided, etc.
43

Of course, Corvinus did not persuade Melanchthon.
Happily for Corvinus, his conditions were relatively com-
fortable, perhaps defeating the purpose of trying to force
his acceptance of the Interim. He was released, Oct. 1,
1552. He re-entered active ministry in Hannover and died
shortly thereafer, April 11, 1553. Bente claims that it was
his incarceration that led to his death.
Baldo Lupetino was born into Venetian nobility,
though his birth date is uncertain (either 1492 or 1502).
In the mid-1530s, he entered a Franciscan monastery in
Lower Labin. During Lent in 1541, he openly advocated
Lutheran ideas, denying the freedom of the will and argu-
ing that Christ had fully atoned for human sin. He also
reportedly addressed the doctrine of predestination. He
was arrested in December 1542 and tried in 1543, 1547
and 1556, where he was sentenced to life in prison and
then death.
44

Oliver Olson argues, As long as the Smalcald League
remained in power, Venice was reluctant to ofend the
evangelical princes. But on the very day of the Leagues
defeat, April 24, 1547, Doge Francesco Dona opened his
city to the Sant Ufzio and appointed three lay represen-
tatives of the Council of Ten, Nicola Tiepolo, Francesco
Contarmi and Antonio Venier, to cooperate with the cler-
ical members, the Patriarch, the Father Inquisitor and
Della Casa as Sages on Heresy Savii sulv eresi.
45

43
F. Bente, Historical Introductions to the Book of Concord (St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1965), 101.
44
Luther himself wrote regarding Lupetino: We have found out that
your country Italy is the location of pious and honest men in sad
trouble, the devotees of pure Christian faith. It is said that they are
going through hard persecutions only because they embraced the
Gospel and because they want to glorify it and spread it everywhere.
Terefore we, who carefully try to follow the letter of the Holy Gospel
and uphold it in all churches, are overwhelmed with deep and honest
sympathy toward those God-loving men; because our Christian hearts
understand the great sufering and bitter tears of those who sufer
for the evangelical truth. As we have been notifed that, by the order
of the Roman Pope, among other men Baldo Lupetino has also been
charged, a man with noteworthy virtues and profound knowledge,
and that he is locked up in prison with his life in danger, we felt that
it is our duty to intervene on his behalf and on the behalf of others.
Martin Luthers Briefwechsel, Vol. 10, Briefe 15421544, Nr. 3884 (pp.
327328); See also Mirko Breyer, About the man from Istria, friar
Baldo Lupetina (15021556), Istra 14/2 (1976): 38, http://www.facius.
net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110%3Aluthero
vo-pismo&catid=57%3Abaldo-lupetina&Itemid=64&lang=en, accessed
August 4, 2013.
45
Olson, Baldo Lupetino: Venetian Martyr, Lutheran Quarterly: 11.
Following the last trial, he was ofcially degraded and
executed, likely during the night of Sept. 1718, 1556.
Olson describes the execution as follows:
At the dead hour of midnight, the prisoner was
taken from his cell and put into a gondola or Vene-
tian boat, attended only, besides the sailors, by
a single priest, to act as confessor. He was rowed
out into the sea beyond the Two Castles, where
another boat was waiting. A plank was then laid
across the two gondolas, upon which the prisoner,
having his body chained, and a heavy stone afxed
to his feet, was placed; and, on a signal given, the
gondolas retiring from one another, he was precip-
itated into the deep.
While there were not a large number of Lutheran mar-
tyrs, their presence is irrefutable. Confessing the faith
once delivered to the saints in accordance with the Augs-
burg Confession placed one in a dangerous situation.
Conclusion Peace, the Cross and The Formula
of Concord
By 1555, the political and military situation had calmed.
In fact, with the Religious Peace of Augsburg of that year,
the principle of cuius regio eius religio became the law of
the Holy Roman Empire. Under it, Lutherans enjoyed
legal recognition as a confession and the immediate threat
of martyrdom was removed.
Te Peace itself stated the following:
15. [Protection of the Adherents of the Confes-
sion of Augsburg] And in order that such peace
is respected and maintained despite the religious
chasm, as is necessary in the Holy Roman Empire
of the German nation and between his Roman
Imperial Majesty and Us, on the one hand, and the
electors, princes, and estates of the Holy Empire
of the German nation, on the other, therefore His
Imperial Majesty, and We, and the electors, princes,
and estates of the Holy Empire will not make war
upon any estate of the empire on account of the
Augsburg Confession and the doctrine, religion,
and faith of the same, nor injure nor do violence
to those estates that hold it, nor force them, against
their conscience, knowledge, and will, to abandon
the religion, faith, church usages, ordinances, and
ceremonies of the Augsburg Confession, where
these have been established, or may hereafer
be established, in their principalities, lands, and
dominions. Nor shall We, through mandate or in
any other way, trouble or disparage them, but shall
let them quietly and peacefully enjoy their religion,
faith, church usages, ordinances, and ceremonies,
as well as their possessions, real and personal
property, lands, people, dominions, governments,
honors, and rights. Further, a complete peace
within the disputed Christian religion shall be
attained only by Christian, friendly, and peaceful
means through his Imperial and Royal Majesties,
the honorable princes, and by threat of punish-
ment for breach of the Public Peace.
For Roman Catholics it stated:
16. [Protection of the Adherents of the Catho-
lic Faith] On the other hand, the estates that have
accepted the Augsburg Confession shall sufer His
Imperial Majesty, Us, and the electors, princes, and
other estates of the Holy Empire, who adhere to
the old religion, to abide in like manner by their
religion, faith, church usages, ordinances, and cer-
emonies. Tey shall also leave undisturbed their
possessions, real and personal property, lands,
people, dominions, government, honors, and
rights, rents, interest, and tithes
46

Tough the Religious Peace of Augsburg was viewed
by all involved in the Empire as being provisional in
nature, it proved to be solid enough to last over the fol-
lowing century, even through the Tirty Years War.
During the remainder of the 16th century, the Roman
Catholics (Te Council of Trent), the Reformed Tradition
(with its many local confessions), and the Lutheran Con-
fession (the Formula of Concord), further refned their
theological positions and established them confessionally
for their future followers.
Perhaps because the threat of martyrdom at the hands
of the state had largely been removed, martyrdom and the
cross were largely translated into the arena of the individ-
ual Christian. Further, in the Formula of Concord (1577),
persecution and the cross appear, notably, in the article on
the election of grace, FC XI.
Paragraph 20: 6. Tat He also will protect them in
46
Emil Reich, trans., Select Documents Illustrating Mediaeval
and Modern History (London: P. S. King & Son, 1905), 22632,
revised and with additional articles by Tomas A. Brady Jr., http://
germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/Doc.67-ENG-ReligPeace1555_
en.pdf, accessed August 4, 2013. For those who held to other
confessions, the Peace stated: 17. [Exclusion of Adherents of Other
Confessions] All others, however, who are not adherents of either of
the aforementioned religions are not included in this peace, but shall be
altogether excluded from it.
49
their great weakness against the devil, the world,
and the fesh, and rule and lead them in His ways,
raise them again [place His hand beneath them],
when they stumble, comfort them under the
cross and in temptation, and preserve them [for
life eternal].
Paragraph 30: For this reason the elect are
described thus: My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eter-
nal life (John 10:2728); In Him we have obtained
an inheritance, having been predestined according to
the purpose of Him who works all things according
to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11); and, Although
all this is very weak in them, yet they hunger and
thirst afer righteousness (Matt. 5:6).
Paragraph 48: Moreover, this doctrine afords
glorious consolation under the cross and amid
temptations, namely that God in His counsel,
before the time of the world, determined and
decreed that He would assist us in all distresses
[anxieties and perplexities], grant patience [under
the cross], give consolation, excite [nourish and
encourage] hope, and produce such an outcome as
would contribute to our salvation. Also, as Paul in
a very consolatory way treats this (Rom. 8:2829,
35, 3839) that God in His purpose has ordained
before the time of the world by what crosses and
suferings He would conform every one of His
elect to the image of His Son, and that to everyone,
His cross shall and must work together for good,
because they are called according to the purpose,
whence Paul has concluded that it is certain and
indubitable that neither tribulation, nor distress,
nor death, nor life, etc., shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus,
our Lord.
Te Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Rast, Jr., is president of
Concordia Teological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
The Holy Cross: Suffering,
Persecution and Martyrdom
a Mark of the Church in the
Modern Age
by the Albert B. Collver III
Christian sufering, per-
secution and martyrdom
continue in the modern
age, but this will be turned
into blessing by the Lord.
I
n the Book of Revelation, those who had
been slain cried out with a loud voice to the Lord,
How long before you will judge and avenge our
blood on those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 6:10)? Te
word used to describe the martyrs who cried out to the
Lord from the altar in heaven is from the verb (sp-
haz), the very same word used to describe Jesus as the
Lamb who had been slain. Te martyrs had been slain
like their Lord, Jesus. Like the blood of Abel, the blood of
the martyrs calls out to the Lord for
justice and the vengeance of the Lord
upon the wicked. In a similar way, the
Lords church on earth cries out to be
a witness to the world and for deliver-
ance from all evil. Ironically, the more
the church prays to be a witness to the
world, the more likely the church is
to experience the cross and sufering,
which in itself becomes a witness.
Dr. Martin Luther, in his On the
Councils and the Church, identifed
seven marks or notes of the church,
1

that is, seven items that indicate the
church of God is present on earth.
Tese marks or notes of where to fnd
the church, the people of God, are an explanation of the
Augsburg Confession, Article VII, which says the church
is found where the Gospel is purely preached and the
holy sacraments are administered according to the Gos-
pel. In On the Councils and the Church, Luther begins
with the Word of God, followed by an enumeration of the
1
Lehmann (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1966), 9178.
ways the Gospel is delivered to the Lords people Holy
Baptism, Holy Communion, Holy Absolution and Holy
Ministry. Dr. Luther also adds: prayer, public praise, and
thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6); and the holy cross. Prayer, pub-
lic praise, and thanksgiving provide the context in which
the Word of God is proclaimed and the sacraments are
administered. It is a description of what goes on where
church is located, where the people of God are gathered.
To all of this, Dr. Luther adds a seventh mark the holy
cross, which includes sufering, per-
secution and martyrdom.
2
Tis theme of sufering, perse-
cution and martyrdom has been a
topic of theological refection since
the Book of Acts. At the beginning
of the second decade of the 21st cen-
tury, the church has passed through
a century where more Christians,
numerically, have been persecuted
and martyred than at any other time
in history. We live in a time when
governments that once championed
freedom of religion are turning in-
creasingly hostile to the message of
the Gospel. Free societies that al-
low for the public expression of nearly any thought, idea
or action increasingly cannot bear to hear the witness of
the Church in the public square. At the same time, Islam
is spreading among people and through lands where the
Gospel once held sway. If the external threats of secular
humanism and Islam were not enough, the Church is also
under attack from within.
2
Ibid.
At the beginning
of the second decade
of the 21st century,
the church has passed
through a century
where more Christians,
numerically, have
been persecuted and
martyred than at any
other time in history.
51
It should not surprise
us that the Lords
people, that His holy
Church, takes on the
appearance of the
crucifed Son of God.
In fact, it is a great
honor and joy that the
Lord conforms us into
his image.
Once on a trip to Kazakhstan, we visited Kazakhstans
ofce of the Ministry of Religion. Tis man had served
during the communist and post-communist periods. He
was a professed agnostic, who was interested in the social
phenomena called religion. He said that the communists
thought they needed to persecute the church to prevent
its spread. Ten, he noted how the mainstream Protestant
church bodies had strayed from the historic message of
Christianity, particularly by adopting Western societys
agenda on sexuality. He concluded by
saying, What the communists failed
to do, namely destroy the Church,
liberal Christianity will succeed by
eliminating the teaching of historic
Christianity, allowing Islam and oth-
er radical ideologies to dominate.
Indeed, as the Apostle John said, so
now many antichrists have come (1
John 2:18).
Christs Church faces many ene-
mies from within and without. She
bears the mark of the holy cross, not
as an identifer for its own sake, but as
a consequence of bearing witness to
and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Te Church
in every place bears the holy cross to some degree. Te
Church in some places bears what appears to be a smaller
cross than the church in other places, yet no matter how
small or big the cross, it serves the same purpose a wit-
ness (martyria) to the world and as Formula of Concordia
XI confesses, to conform every one of His elect to the im-
age of His Son.
3
It should not surprise us that the Lords
3
Te Large Catechism (1529), in: Te Lutheran Confessions: A Readers
Edition of the Book of Concord, eds. Paul T. McCain, Robert C. Baker,
Gene E. Veith and Edward A. Engelbrecht (St. Louis, MO: Concordia
Publishing House, 2005), 639.
people, that His holy Church, takes on the appearance of
the crucifed Son of God. In fact, it is a great honor and
joy that the Lord conforms us into his image. Tis is why
St. Paul says in Rom. 8:28, And we know that for those
who love God, all things work together for good.
Te Lord Jesus works the good of His Church through
the holy cross. He worked the salvation of the world on
the cross. He redeemed you and me on the cross. Trough
the crosses, that is, the suferings in our lives, predestined
for us before the foundation of the
world, the Lord conforms us into the
image of His Son. What sort of Lord
predestines the holy cross? Te sort
of Lord who, in his divine foreknowl-
edge, ensured that no sufering, cross
or martyrdom would wrest you from
His loving hand. Tis is the sort of
Lord who has promised that the gates
of Hell will not prevail against his
Church. Tis is the sort of Lord who,
in the words of the Augsburg Con-
fession, said the Church, perpetual
mansura, will endure forever. Be as-
sured that sufering, persecution and
martyrdom, as evil as it is, will be turned into blessing by
Te Lord.
Te Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III is the LCMS director of
for the Ofce of International Mission and executive secre-
tary of the International Lutheran Council.
Suffering, Persecution and
Martyrdom as a Mark of the
Church in Europe
by Darius Petkunas
Sufering, persecution
and martyrdom the Rev.
Dr. Petkunas talks history
and the present situation
in Europe.
S
ince the beginning of recorded time, many
have sufered for their beliefs. In ancient Rome, the
popular maxim stated Ad astra per aspera (To
the stars through adversities). Te pagans knew nothing
of the promises which God had attached to his cove-
nant people; for them, willingness to sufer hardship was
necessary if worthy prizes were to be gained. A lengthy
catalogue of hardships endured by Gods Old Testament
saints is recorded in the letter to the
Hebrews, chapter 11.
When Christ promised that those
who followed him would have to
bear crosses for the sake of his name,
he did not put this statement in the
form of a proposition, as though to
say willingness to bear the hatred of
the world would reap great rewards.
He was instead stating the simple fact
that the prince of this world would
see to it those who put their faith in
Christ would know pain and anguish
such as their Lord had so willingly
taken upon himself on their behalf.
Te life of the Church has been
marked from the beginning by the presence of the cross,
that particular form of sufering borne by those who con-
fess the name of Christ. Clear signs of this can be seen in
the martyrdom frst of Stephen, then James of Jerusalem,
then of all the apostles excepting only St. John, and by the
death of early Roman Christians at the hands of Nero, and
also, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Cyprian of
Carthage and countless others who sufered at the hands
of Diocletian, Julian the Apostate and other enemies of
Christ. Persecution proved a very inefcient method of
exterminating the Christian Church. It did not diminish;
it grew. As Tertullian declared, the blood of the martyrs
proved to be the seed of the Church. Luther went so far
as to state the possession of the cross of Christ should be
regarded as among the sure signs of the Church, the holy
Christian people.
In the 20th century, Marxist-Leninist communist ide-
ology clearly dictated that for communism to succeed, the
Church and its superstitions must be destroyed, and that
the very idea of God must be erased
from mans heart and soul. It was at
frst thought that scientifc-atheist
propaganda could accomplish this, as
the Christian faith was thought to be
nothing more than ignorant supersti-
tion, which could be easily overcome
by secular reasoning and education.
Tese communists soon found it nec-
essary to employ more direct means
to destroy the Church. Tousands of
priests and bishops from all the tra-
ditional Christian confessions in the
Soviet Union were sent to gulags, and
for many of them, it was a death sen-
tence. By the mid 1930s the Roman
Catholic and Lutheran Churches in Soviet Russia had
disappeared. Te communists sought to destroy the Or-
thodox Church in the same manner. Priests and bishops
were sent away to perish, and churches were torn down
and plowed over. But all this proved insufcient. It was
not possible to erase the idea of God from the hearts and
minds of men, or at least not from all men. Every time
the government relaxed its atheistic eforts, the fres of
faith again sprang up. When communism failed, suppos-
edly-atheist countries once again declared themselves
Christian. Te people publicly proclaimed that they had
The unwillingness,
or even the inability,
of churches to take a
bold stand and endure
the consequences of
recriminations and
persecution represent
the elimination of the
seventh sign from the
churchs conscience
and life.
53
been and continued to be Christian people, and this con-
tinues to be true.
Tis commentary explicates what Luther calls this
seventh mark of the Church, this bearing of the cross and
what he defnes as the shape which the cross takes in the
life of the Church in times of sufering, persecution and
martyrdom. It also speaks to the present situation of the
churches in Europe where law and order prevail and the
oppression of Christianity is unacknowledged
Luther on the Seventh Mark of the Church
In his tractate on the Churches and Councils (1539),
1
Luther
enumerates the marks of the true Church. He characterizes
it by the marks set down in Article VII of the Augsburg
Confession, where the Church is described as the assem-
bly of believers among whom the Gospel is taught in its
truth and purity and the sacraments are administered
according to Christs institution. Here, he fnds the frst
four essential marks of the Church. Te frst mark of the
Church is its possession of the holy Word of God. Where
this Word is preached, believed, professed, and lived, there
the true ecclesia sancta catolica is to be found regardless of
its size. Te second mark is the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
Wherever it is taught, believed and administered correctly
according to Christs mandate, that too is a public sign and
a precious holy possession by which Gods people are sanc-
tifed. Te third mark is the Holy Sacrament of the Altar
rightly administered, believed, and received according to
Christs institution. Like Baptism, the altar sacrament is a
public sign, a holy possession given by Christ to sanctify his
people. Te fourth sign is the Ofce of the Keys and Con-
fession publicly exercised. If a Christian sins, he should be
reproved. If he will not mend his ways, he should be bound
in his sin and cast out, however, if he does mend his ways
he should be absolved. Te ffh sign is the consecration
or calling of pastors and the Ofce of the Holy Ministry.
Tere must be bishops, pastors, or preachers who publicly
and privately give, administer, and use the aforementioned
four things or holy possessions in behalf or in the name of
the Church or by reason of their institution by Christ. Te
sixth mark: Te holy people are externally recognized by
prayer, public praise, and thanksgiving to God. Finally,
the holy Christian people are externally recognized by the
holy possession of the sacred cross.
Luther elaborates on the seventh sign by stating that
1
Lehamnn (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1966), 150.
Christians must endure every misfortune and persecu-
tion all kinds of evil. In this way, they are conformed not
by their own action and decision, but by the work of the
Holy Spirit. Tey are punished not because they have done
wrong, or because they are adulterers, murderers, thieves
or rogues, but because they want to have none but Christ,
and no other God. Wherever you see or hear this you may
know the Holy Christian Church is here
Te source of these suferings according to Luther is
the devil, the world and the sinful fesh. Persecution and
martyrdom are not the product of paranoia or ones own
mania. Tey are the work of objective agents. One cannot
make a close distinction between those suferings which
are caused by the devil, those which are imposed by the
world, and those which have their origin in sinful fesh. All
three are involved, even though empirically, it is the world
which stands out most clearly.
The Shape of the World and its Relation to the
Church
As in the Scriptures and so too in Luthers theology, the
term world does not necessarily stand for the secular
versus the religious or spiritual. When Luther uses this
term in connection with devil and the sinful fesh, world
refers to everything that stands in opposition to God and
seeks to silence His Word. Tere is nothing in Luther of the
Neoplatonic notion found in Augustines theology, which
sets civitas Dei and civitas mundi in opposition. Augustine
characterized the civitas terrena as inhabited by children of
Cain who devote themselves to hedonistic pleasures and
earthly prosperity, while followers of Abel serve God and
look to eternal life in His Heavenly City. Te Church in this
world is the sign which points to the Heavenly City (res
signata). Te history of mankind is a history of constant
confict between the two cities and their citizens. Luther
leaves such thinking behind.
Luther instead distinguishes two realms of God activity
one ruled by his right hand, the other by His lef. Te
realm of the right hand of God is Gods kingdom in the
proper sense of the word (Geisliches regiment, reych Gottis),
in which he rules spiritually through the proclamation of
the Gospel. God rules by his lef hand through the secular
powers, the kingdoms of His present world (Weltliches regi-
ment. Reych der Welt). He rules here through law and order
administered by earthly powers which use earthly forms of
force (the sword) to keep order in society.
Luther understands that these two kingdoms are quite
distinct but both are necessary. He does not agree with
those who assert that the world can be ruled by the Gospel
alone. He declares that where it is claimed that the Gospel
provides universal principles for the earthly government
there unbelievers simply mask their unbelief and use
so-called Gospel principles and the rights of Christian free-
dom to their own advantage. Over against this Luther states
that Law that operates by threats and by force is necessary
for an orderly society and justice. So considered secular
government serves Gods purposes for the beneft of His
people and Church. However, secular government may try
to drive God form the picture and construct order and jus-
tice according to its own fallen purposes.
It is Luthers concern that both the spiritual and secular
realms should know their proper place. Te Christian lives
under both realms and governments. He is simul justus et
peccator he is a baptized child of God whose sins are
forgiven and who seeks to live in accordance with Gods
law and to walk in the way of righteousness. At the same
time, however, he is still a child of Adam. He is still sub-
ject to temptation, to secret thoughts and desires beyond
even his own understanding, always in need of forgiveness
and grace. Te Law stands over him with its warnings and
threats, calling upon him to live a life which is in accor-
dance with the will of God. Luther goes so far as to say:
Tat the righteous man of his accord does everything that
the law demands and more, but the unrighteous do noth-
ing that the law demands and for that reason it is necessary
that the law should instruct, compel and constrain them to
do good. Te unbeliever is not simul justus et peccator. He
is a sinner who lives only in the kingdom of the world. He
cares nothing about Gods will and follows the law in order
to avoid incurring the penalties which are attached to its
violation.
Tese two realms or kingdoms are not autonomous.
Tey are both responsible to God. Each has its own par-
ticular work to do. Te Church is not to interfere in the
secular realm as though it were an earthly government, nor
is it to issue secular laws or look upon itself as lord over the
state. For its part, the secular power does not interfere with
the spiritual realm.
From this perspective Luther does not speak of the
earthly kingdom in negative terms. Te Peace of Augsburg
(1555) would establish the principle Cuius regio, eius religio,
and as a result, many territories became Lutheran, and the
Lutheran Churches became territorial churches. In these
territories, the worldly authority was to treat the Church
benevolently, but they were not to become the secular arms
of the Church, enforcing its doctrine and regulations on
the citizens. Church matters were lef in the hands of spiri-
tual authorities such as bishops or consistories.
Luther made it clear secular government is limited in its
power and authority. Its laws and regulations are to extend
no further than the physical body and physical property.
What Luther referred to as the seventh sign or mark
of the Church is called into play when temporal, secular
authority oversteps its limits and intrudes into spiritual
afairs, where Gods Word and will should reign supreme.
When this happens, Christians are to follow the example
of St. Peter, who when he was told by the Jewish authorities
that he must not proclaim the person and work of Christ
responded that in such matters one must follow God
rather than men.
Luther afrmed Peters statement at the very time when
Lutherans were beginning to feel the pain of persecution
and the sword for the sake of their faith. In July of 1523,
Henricus Vos and Jan van der Eschen were burned at the
stake in Brussels for their confession of the Gospel, and
in Ducal Saxony, Duke George was attempting to ban the
sale and spread of Luthers translation of the New Tes-
tament even to the point of insisting that those who had
purchased copies of it must surrender them or sufer dire
consequences. Luther stated emphatically that this was no
time for Christians to wobble.
To sufer under these circumstances, said Luther, was to
be blessed, because it meant that God deemed his people
worthy to experience hardship for the sake of his Word.
To voluntarily surrender under such circumstances would
be tantamount to delivering Christ up into the hands of
Herod. Te New Testament and like writings were not
to be surrendered voluntarily, but if these writings were
snatched from their hands, they were not to resist but will-
ingly endure outrage and hardship. Te enduring of such
hardship for the sake of the Gospel is a sign of the Church.
The Seventh Sign A Historical Perspective
Tis seventh sign of the Church manifested itself most evi-
dently when and where the faithfulness of the Church was
put to the test by a strong state or government hostile to the
Gospel. In the 16th century, Lutherans most ofen found
themselves in the minority in many territories. Tey were
ready and willing to afrm by word and action the faith
which they confessed. Indeed, the Church and Christians
who are determined to be faithful regardless of the cost are
most likely to fnd themselves on the receiving end of trials
and tribulations.
However, it is not necessary that the Church be in the
55
minority in order to fnd itself in a position of sufering
and hardship for the sake of the Gospel. History indicates
instances of hardship and even outright persecution devel-
oped when secular power intruded in the life and worship
of Lutheran territorial Churches, even though a majority
of the citizens were baptized and communicant members
of the Lutheran Church. A clear example is found in the
case of Prussia where, reformed rulers were determined
to intrude into the faith, confession, and worship of the
Lutheran Church a clear violation of the Lutheran
understanding of the clear division between the spiritual
and secular powers. Tis was accomplished by a series of
actions undertaken by Prussian rulers, which reached
a high point when Friedrich Wilhelm III announced in
1830 that the name Lutheran was henceforth banished
from the churchs ofcial name and then declared in 1834
that henceforth Lutheran and Reformed congregations
were to use a single liturgical agenda on all altars and in
all churches. Te frst sign of concrete sufering and perse-
cution as a result of the royal edicts came in Silesia, where,
as Luther had said, the clausula Petri must be followed and
God rather then man must be obeyed. Pastors and congre-
gations in Breslau and in outlying areas strongly opposed
the introduction of the Union Agenda and absolutely
refused to make use of it.
An obedient and compliant church government was
quick to suspend and impede pastors who defed the royal
order. Te Pastors themselves refused to recognize these
suspensions because they said they were members of the
Lutheran Church, not of some ersatz Union Church cre-
ated by the government. Tey continued their ministry of
preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments
in accordance with their call and ordination. Te results
were the same everywhere. Te police were sent by gov-
ernmental authorities to search out these pastors and their
congregations. Many pastors were arrested and jailed. Tey
were given an opportunity to repent of their headstrong
defance but if they refused to do so, they were fned and
imprisoned. Tose who opened their doors to Lutheran
services were given heavy fnes and if they were unable to
pay their property and goods were liable to be confscated.
Despite the fact that all the eastern territories of Prus-
sia were Lutheran, the seventh sign of the Church appeared
chiefy in Silesia for it was there that Lutherans were deter-
mined to be faithful in the face of hardship. Elsewhere the
Prussian Lutheran Church had in the 18th century come
under the infuence of Rationalism and had abandoned
Lutheran confessions for what were thought to be more
modern approaches to religion. Te interference of the
secular power into spiritual matters provoked no more
than occasional grumblings here and there by those who
retained some semblance of Lutheran orthodoxy. What
Luther considered an important mark of the Church was
circumvented, and substituted for it was a new, more
reasonable mark the mark of prosperity and public
acceptance. Te result was inevitable. In the course of the
reign of reasonable von Hohenzollerns, Lutheranism all
but disappeared.
Te example of the Prussian Church shows what hap-
pens when the Church either sees no need to make a clear
confession of the truth of Gods Word or has allowed itself
to be rendered incapable of articulating such a confession.
If the Church has nothing for which it is willing to sufer
it will not sufer, and it will not receive the blessing which
hardship brings with it. Here, as Luther had correctly
stated, the willingness to endure what a clear confession
brings with it and the unwillingness to allow the secular
realm to interfere in Church afairs and to the determina-
tion to make a bold a clear confession and bear the cross is
a clear mark of the Church.
The Situation Today: Some Observations
Today secular governments do not ordinarily interfere
directly into Church afairs. Te Churchs long history of
capitulation has made further interference unnecessary
because now some Lutheran Churches in Europe are little
more than creatures of the state in which faith has been
replaced by ideology. One must be very circumspect in
making such a judgment, however, because everywhere
churches fnd it necessary to accommodate themselves
in some measure to the secular regimes so that they may
continue to proclaim the Gospel. Here one may point the
experience of the churches under the Soviet Communist
regime. It was the clear intention of the regime to annihi-
late the Christian faith and the Christian Church; for her
part the Church found that its very survival depended
upon its willingness to collaborate with the regime to some
extant. Te governmental program of organized interfer-
ence with the Church concentrated its central attention
on outward afairs rather than direct attempts to alter
the content of the Churchs confessions. Te Churches
found it necessary to direct their primary attention to
the faithful confession of the Christian faith. Clergy and
members were willing to sufer rather than abandon their
confession, to suspend their Sacramental ministry, and to
quietly disappear. Tey had everyday acquaintance with
the seventh sign to an extant not shared by their Western
neighbors who enjoyed prosperity and engaged in doctri-
nal and liturgical experimentation.
Care must be taken also, because many controversial
issues are raised under the general banner of human rights
and justice notions which the Church would certainly
never be willing to stand against. But now what foats under
this banner are issues concerning human sexuality, notions
concerning marriage which stand against the Word of God
and Churchs teachings. Furthermore, biomedical issues
and concerns about social welfare and the termination of
viable pregnancies are also involved. Until recent times, the
Church understood all of these issues to involve sinful dis-
obedience to the Word and will of God, but now, attempts
are being made to raise doubts about this. Some Lutheran
churches no longer openly protest such ethical issues, but
simply afrm the popular positions advocated in the public
press and the secular policies articulated by politicians.
Today, these issues deeply divide contemporary Lutheran-
ism. Te unwillingness, or even the inability, of churches to
take a bold stand and endure the consequences of recrim-
inations and persecution represent the elimination of the
seventh sign from the churchs conscience and life.
Te seventh sign has always been regarded as a sec-
ondary mark of the Church. Its absence at a particular
time and at particular place does not necessarily mean
that the Church is no longer the true Church. However, it
ofen happens that where the Church is unwilling to bear
the pain of the cross, other marks and signs of the Church,
including the pure proclamation of the Gospel, the right
administration of the Sacraments, and the proper ordering
of the Holy Ministry, disappear as well.
Luther would insist that one must move beyond a
simple consideration of the empirical evidence to recog-
nize that behind it stands the ancient consolation of the
Devil, the World and the sinful fesh. Te Church and her
people contend with forces which are not merely empiri-
cal and material. Tey are instead higher and stronger
powers in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). Tey must be com-
bated with the power of God, whom the Church confesses
and proclaims.
Te Rev. Dr. Darius Petkunas is a professor and member of
the faculty of Teology at the University of Helsinki.
57
Book Review
Improving Preaching by Listening to Listeners: Sunday Service Preaching
in the Malagasy Lutheran Church by Hans Austnaberg
by Robert H. Bennett
A review of Hans Austnabergs
book examines typical sermons
preached at churches in
Madagascar within their social,
political and historical context.
T
he Lutheran Church of Madagascar has
been the focus of many recent studies. What
is so special about this church what makes it
diferent from other church bodies? Why are so many
people turning their attention to this Island? Until the
last 10 years or so, very few people were aware of Te
Lutheran Church of Madagascar. For instance, the
Lutherans in South Africa had no idea that just across
the Mozambique Channel there
were millions of Lutherans. It was
not only the Lutherans of Africa that
were unaware of the growth of the
Lutheran Church in Madagascar. Te
Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod
also seemed to be caught by surprise.
Historically, the Lutheran Church
of Madagascar has been in fellowship
with Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Both of
these church bodies were not in fel-
lowship with the LCMS. As a result
of these fellowship issues, the LCMS
understood little about the Mala-
gasy Lutheran Church (Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy
or FLM). Nevertheless, the liberalism found in both the
ELCA and LWF had not penetrated the theology or prac-
tice of the FLM. As it turns out these people were not
only Lutheran, but they were confessional and liturgical
Lutherans. Tey had managed to avoid the infuence of
womens ordination, both their pastors and congregations
continued to hold a high regard for the Holy Scripture
and the teachings of Luthers Small Catechism.
Te FLM continues to be a church body connected
to the Word of God and the Sacraments of Te Lords
Supper and Holy Baptism. During my PhD studies in
Madagascar, those I interviewed were constantly speak-
ing in terms of the presence of Jesus attached to the Word
and Sacraments. Moreover, Luthers Small Catechism was
a foundational resource for the teaching of the Church.
Nevertheless, one of the areas of study that was lacking in
research was the content of the sermons. What were the
people hearing proclaimed from the pulpits on any given
Sunday in the congregations? Finally, there is a book that
answers this question, at least in
part. Hans Austnaberg has done the
church a great service by providing
his book titled, Improving Preach-
ing by Listening to Listeners: Sunday
Service Preaching in the Malagasy
Lutheran Church.
Austnabergs divides his book into
two parts. Te frst part of the book
focuses on how listeners are hearing
the sermons preached by their pas-
tors. Te second part of the book
focuses on a homiletic discussion of
ethos, logos and pathos. Te island
of Madagascar is a very difcult
place to investigate due to logistical
and economic difculties. Terefore, one of the benefts
of this book is that it provides three examples of sermons
preached in various churches throughout the highlands
of Madagascar. To be sure, three sermons provide only
an anecdotal understanding of the preaching life of the
FLM. Nevertheless, these sermons are consistent with the
sermons heard by other confessional Lutheran pastors
who have visited churches on the island. Austnaberg uses
these sermons to determine the answers to the follow-
ing questions: How do the hearers perceive the message
of the sermon? How do their responses match the inten-
tions of the preachers? Te research demonstrated that
The island of
Madagascar is a very
diffcult place to
investigate one of
the benefts of this book
is that it provides three
examples of sermons
preached in various
churches throughout
the highlands of
Madagascar.
59
the pastors are very efective at communicating to their
congregants. Te author thoughtfully demonstrates this
point throughout his book. However, some readers will
fnd the listeners responses to be the greatest advantage
of this book.
What did the listeners have to say? What did they
believe the content of a truly Christian sermon should
be? Were these sermons living up to their expectations?
Te author analyzes these questions through the matrix
of ethos, logos and pathos. By ethos, the author refers to
the character of the preacher. When referring to logos, he
means the content of the sermon. Finally, when referring
to pathos, the author refers to the ability of the ethos and
logos to move or correct the hearer. To those who enjoy
rhetorical studies this will be an interesting read. How-
ever, this book holds a greater treasure, namely, a glimpse
into the psyche of the average person sitting in the pews
of the FLM.
Te author rightfully recognized the necessity of pro-
viding his readers with the social, political, and historical
context of Madagascar during the time of his research.
Madagascar was enduring a time of immense political
and economic difculties brought on by a political coup
which exaggerated the poverty and famine the island had
already endured. What would the listeners desire to hear
from their pastors? Would they be sermons that focused
on the political and economic problems of the day, or
would they desire sermons based on the biblical text of
the lectionary? Interestingly, the hearers were only inter-
ested in sermons that provided a biblical understanding
of the texts and the proclamation of Jesus Christ crucifed
and risen for sinners. What about sermons that spoke to
the problems of the day? None of the respondents thought
it important enough to mention when describing their
desired sermonic content. What about the use of stories
in sermons? Te listeners said that they could under-
stand the use of stories at times, but such stories should
only emphasize the biblical text and were not considered
necessary. Te listeners overwhelmingly made the point
that they were not in church to encounter the world but
to encounter God through His Word and Sacraments.
What were the listeners thoughts about the emotional
sermonic responses? While emotions will always be
found in the hearts of those who hear the Word of God
and receive his gifs, emotional appeals were looked down
upon by those in the pews.
Much of what Austnabergs research uncovered is dif-
ferent from what many modern listeners in American
pews might suppose. One of the most striking diferences
was what the listeners said about preaching in general.
When asked about how individual sermons moved
them to change, they responded that while occasionally
a particular sermon might lead to a change in their lives,
change was an ongoing process, through listening to ser-
mons over a period of time.
1
Terefore, the respondents
found an ongoing participation in worship to be responsi-
ble for changing the individuals heart rather than a single
well-crafed sermon.
In Part 2 of the book, Austnaberg begins a homiletic
discussion in which he analyzes the listeners perceived
character of the pastors (ethos), the content of the ser-
mons (logos), and the ability of the sermons to get a
response from the hearers (pathos). Briefy stated, in
regard to what the researcher termed ethos, he found
that the clergy were held in high regard by the people.
However, if a pastors lifestyle was in confict with his ser-
monic content, he would lose credibility with the hearers.
What was the main content of every sermon (logos)? Te
hearers were clear, if the sermon does not preach Christ
crucifed and risen each week, it was not understood to
be a Christian sermon. In addition, the sermon should
be systematic in nature while dealing with the historical
context of the biblical stories. Finally, concerning pathos,
change is not something that is manipulated by the words
of men, but comes through ongoing hearing of the Word
and reception of the Sacraments.
As the Lutheran Church in the Western world contin-
ues to learn more of this faithful witness of the Lutheran
Church of Madagascar, it might question if such reports
are true. Yes, they are. Moreover, the Malagasy Lutheran
Church has much more to teach us about how Confes-
sional Lutheranism can fourish in the animistic /spiritual
context now found in the Western world.
Te Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett is senior administrative pastor
for Trinity Lutheran Church in Reese, Mich.
1
Hans Austnaberg. Improving Preaching by Listening to Listeners:
Sunday Service Preaching in the Malagasy Lutheran Church (New York:
Peter Lang, 2012), 118.
Book Review
Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday Missionary
by Greg Finke
by Geofrey L. Robinson
Although Finkes book rightly
encourages the engagement of
ones neighbors in a relational
manner, the book is fraught with
faulty theology.
T
he Rev. Greg Finke in his book entitled, Joining
Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday
Missionary, asserts that Jesus is on a redemptive
mission to bring people to salvation by messing with
them. Tis messing with them is done outside of the
Means of Grace. It is done where one fnds the kingdom
of god. Finke invites one to join Jesus on this redemptive
mission by getting into relationships with people and
watching for God to act. When you see God act there
may be opportunity for you to speak about your faith. Te
book is a call to action without pressure. Te key is to just
join in relationships with your neighbors.
Finke in this book demonstrates a passion for serving
Christ and reaching out to the lost and erring, which is to
be commended and emulated. Finke gets it right when he
demonstrates throughout the book that sharing the Word
of God is a relational activity. In other words, one must
be in relationship with people to share the Word. Fur-
ther, Finke points out that the people of God need to go
out into the world and engage other people in conversa-
tion, so that they might have the opportunity to share the
Word of God with others.
I truly appreciate how Finke points out the univer-
sal grace of God, in that God desires all men to come
to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. Tere is no
one whom God doesnt want saved. Tat is fact. I also am
appreciative of Finkes assessment that our United States
culture has changed from what it was in the 1940s and
1950s. He rightly, in my opinion, assesses the situation
correctly, in that society isnt as friendly toward Christian-
ity as it once was in the U.S.
Tere are, however, a number of things that make
me hesitant to give a wholehearted recommendation of
this book:
A key point made throughout is that Jesus is acting
upon people outside the Means of Grace. Te terminol-
ogy used by Finke is that Jesus is messing with, you
or other people. Tis idea of Jesus working outside the
Means of Grace pervades the book. Finke states,
However, Jesus is saying that if, wherever we
are, we will open our eyes and look at the people
around us, we can know that the Spirit of God has
already been at work in their lives long before we
arrived on the scene. So, Jesus says, count on it
and look for it. Gods already been at work in their
lives. Tey may not understand it. Tey probably
dont know it is him. But God has brought many of
them to a point where they are ripe to encounter
his good news. Jesus simply wants us to open our
eyes and look for these people.
1

And here is another statement that implies Jesus is
working on people outside of the Means of Grace to draw
them to Himself:
Heres the mission lesson: If people are not ready,
it is almost impossible to pick them. But once they
are ready, theyll come looking for you. Jesus is
in charge of ripening people. Our job is to watch
for people who are ripe.
2

Further, Finke uses the kingdom of god in a new and
novel way in his book, at least for Lutherans. Wherever
God is present and active is where one can fnd the king-
dom of god. Finke defnes the kingdom of god in this way:
A working defnition for us could be: Te king-
dom of god is the redemptive presence and activity
of God in human lives. To say it simply, the king-
dom of god is God himself. Wherever God is
present and active, his kingdom is present and
active. So, in the beginning when God created the
physical universe, and people particularly, we were
1
Greg Finke. Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday
Missionary (Tenth Power Publishing, January 26, 2014), 31.
2
Ibid, 33.
61
The objective
justifcation of mankind
is not a process; it is an
accomplished fact. It
is not something that
is ongoing. Subjective
justifcation occurs
when an individual
is called into saving
faith by the Holy
Spirit working through
the Gospel. It is not
accomplished by Jesus
messing with someone.
created to live with God and be
in a loving relationship with God
(Genesis 12). He put into
play a plan to redeem and restore
the created universe, and people
particularly, to himself or, as
the New Testament would say
it, to his kingdom. Tis plan of
redemption and restoration is the
mission of God.
3

Tis is more akin to a Reformed
understanding of the kingdom of
god than a Lutheran understand-
ing, which distinguishes between
the kingdoms of Power, Grace and
Glory. Lutherans do assert that the
kingdom of power fnds God actively
ruling over His creation; they do not
assert that this kingdom of power
is the same as the kingdom of grace
through which God operates to call people into saving
faith. In Finkes book, there is no strong, clear and con-
sistent theme of God coming to people through the Word
and the Sacraments and calling them into the kingdom
of Glory through these Means of Grace. In my judgment,
Finke is wrong in how he understands the kingdom of
god and redemption in particular. Finke writes:
What does the kingdom of god look like when it
is present and active in the life of someone living
without the good news of the kingdom? When
someone doesnt yet know, or understand or
believe the kingdom has come and redemption is
theirs? What does the kingdom look like when it
is still ripening someone toward redemption? It
will usually look like human need. It will look like
where love, hope or redemption are needed. We can
look around and ask ourselves, Where can grace
be applied? Where can a little love and truth make
a diference? For those living within the kingdom,
love is the evidence of the redemption the kingdom
has brought. For those living without the kingdom,
human need is the evidence that the kingdom is
near and working toward bringing redemption.
4

Te problem with this defnition is that there is no
clear proclamation that the kingdom of grace comes
3
Ibid, 75.
4
Finke, 86.
where there is the Word of God and
the Sacraments. Human need cannot
be the evidence that the kingdom of
god is near and bringing salvation.
Tere is human need throughout the
world. In many cases, this human
need is where there is no opportunity
for the proclamation of the Word to
occur. Tis is due to the fact that there
are places in the world where there
are no appreciable amount of Chris-
tians. If the kingdom of grace comes
through the Means of Grace, then it
must be centered in the Word of God.
Terefore, it is incorrect to say, For
those living without the kingdom,
human need is the evidence that the
kingdom is near and working toward
bringing redemption.
Another concern is that Finke
implies in this book that Jesus Christ hasnt completed
redemption for all mankind. Finke says:
Tink of it this way: every person you see around
you has a length of life. You can imagine it like a
timeline. Tey are born. Tey live their days. Tey
die. And then there is eternity. Jesus intersects
every persons timeline at various points during
their life in order to begin a process of redemption
and restoration to the kingdom of his Father.
5

And again Finke states:
Jesus is on a mission. He is on a grand adventure
to redeem and restore human lives to the king-
dom of his Father. Tis is nothing new. Ever since
he broke out of the tomb on Easter Sunday, Jesus
has been on the loose, pursuing his redemptive
mission, messing with people, ripening people,
preparing people to be drawn back to the Father he
loves. Its what he does.
6

And Finke further writes:
From now on, Jesus said, redemption is on the
loose. Te full restoration of all things is in motion.
Te Spirit of God is on the move in the created
world and will not be turned back until all things
are made new.
7

5
Ibid, 29.
6
Finke, 27.
7
Ibid, 80.
And again, Finke asserts:
When Jesus arrived here, he unleashed the prom-
ised season of world redemption. It is happening
now. Wherever God is redemptively present and
active his kingdom is at work. We can seek it, rec-
ognize it and join with it.
8

Te objective justifcation of mankind is not a pro-
cess; it is an accomplished fact. It is not something that
is ongoing. Subjective justifcation occurs when an
individual is called into saving faith by the Holy Spirit
working through the Gospel. It is not accomplished by
Jesus messing with someone. Te biblical teaching of the
total depravity of man is compromised with this notion of
Jesus preparing people and ripening them to accept Him
as their Savior apart from the Means of Grace. Te notion
of ripening implies that there is some inherent good in a
person that just needs some ripening to the point that one
will respond to the Gospels call.
A fnal concern that I have with Finkes book is that he
seems to promote a determinism which isnt Lutheran or
scriptural. Finke claims in his book:
Recently, I read that 30 percent of Americans
know none of their neighbors. However, while that
is the norm throughout the U.S., it wasnt going to
be an option for the Finke family. Why? Because
we knew we were called to be neighborhood mis-
sionaries. Acts 17:26 says, and God determined
the times set for them and the exact places where
they should live. Proverbs 16:9 says, In his heart a
man plans his course, but the Lord determines his
steps. We believe that, too.
So while there were all kinds of factors that played
into our deciding to live in this specifc home in
this specifc neighborhood in this specifc part of
the city, in the end we believed it was the Lord who
had determined the exact place where we would
now live. And for what purpose had he chosen
this exact place? His purpose, of course: to redeem
and restore all people, including people in our new
neighborhood.
9
Finke exhibits faulty exegesis in making his point:
Acts 17:26 is talking about humankind, not each individ-
ual. And using Finkes logic, one must assume since God
directs each mans steps that God directs, robbery, rape,
child abuse and so forth. Of course this isnt true, since
8
Ibid, 82.
9
Finke, 136137.
God isnt the author of evil.
Another example of determinism in the book is this
excerpt:
Imagine a person is 100 steps away from the
moment on their timeline when they step into
believing and receiving Jesus. If they are 100 steps
away from their moment, they are not ready for
the Jesus step just yet (the step when they believe
and receive Jesus). However, while they may not be
ready for the Jesus step, they probably are ready
for the next-step on the journey toward Jesus.
And we need to remember the next-step on their
journey is as important as the fnal step on their
journey to Jesus. Te last step into Jesus arms cant
happen without all those next-steps happening
frst.
10

God doesnt determine everything that man does, like
picking out a house and so forth. Man does have freedom
of choice in the things not spiritual. A subtle determin-
ism, I believe, pervades the whole of the book. Tis is
evidenced by Finkes working premise that a persons sal-
vation is on a timeline, (sort of dispensation-like) and that
Jesus is messing with them outside of the Means of Grace.
Te early church grew in large part because the Chris-
tians lived lives of service to their neighbors. Dr. Alvin J.
Schmidt points this out in his wonderful book, Under the
Infuence, where he shows that the reason the Christian
church grew in such large measure was due to the fact that
Christians were diferent in their actions. Tey started
hospitals, orphanages, geriatric centers and the like. Tey
served their neighbors above themselves, and this enabled
them to share the hope that was within themselves: But
in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being
prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a
reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness
and respect (1 Peter 3:15).
Tere was no ripening process that I can see in my
study of Christian history in the early centuries of the
Church in the way that Greg Finke describes it. Rather,
there was a radical diference between Christians and the
rest of the world in the way that they lived, as they treated
one another and served their neighbor and God above
themselves.
In conclusion, I appreciate Finkes eforts to encour-
age the engagement of people and in particular ones
10
Ibid, 34.
63
neighbors in a relational manner. I am thankful for his
emphasis on the Universal Grace that God teaches in His
Holy Word. However, I cannot endorse this book, due to
the lack of emphasis of the Holy Spirit working through
the Means of Grace to call people into saving faith,
and due to the many theological concerns that I have
explained in this review.
Te Rev. Geofrey Robinson is mission executive for the
LCMS Indiana District, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Book Review
Protestant Missionaries to the Middle East: Ambassadors of Christ or
Culture?
by Albert B. Collver III
Te Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III
unpacks Peter Pikkerts 2008
book on mission work in the
Middle East.
Introduction
G
eorge Santayanas statement about history,
Tose who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it, is also true of Christian
missions. Peter Pikkert, a South African Baptist minister
and expert in the Arabic and Turkish languages, wrote a
masterful description of Christian mission
1
to the Muslim
in Turkey. He describes Christian
mission work in Turkey to Muslims
over the past 150 years and ofers
suggestions on how to approach
mission work to the Muslim, based
on history and his experience.
In the forward, Pikkert refects on
25 years of living in the Middle East
and ofers a critique of Protestant
missionaries who have been work-
ing there in some fashion since the
1820s. Pikkerts comments have as
much to do with the changes in the
mission endeavor as they do with
mission to Muslims. Te trends he notes are trans-de-
nominational and even apply to Lutherans. First, Pikkert
notes that Protestants fail to teach the history of missions.
Missionaries ofen come to a place De Novo without rec-
ognizing that, with few exceptions, other missionaries
preceded their arrival. Next, Pikkert notes two signifcant
trends in Protestant missions: (1) Te lowering of aca-
demic qualifcations for missionaries (dumbing down
in Pikkerts words) and (2) While the number of career
missionaries has decreased dramatically over the years,
the number of short termers going overseas has grown
in leaps and bounds. Tis led to an erosion of the sense
of cultural depth and understanding missionaries were
1
Peter Pikkert. Protestant Missionaries to the Middle East: Ambassadors
of Christ or Culture? (Hamilton, Ontario: World Evangelism Canada,
2008).
at one time in a position to accrue. Pikkert claims that
these factors in particular a lack of understanding
and knowledge of missionary history in the Middle East
constitute one of the civilizational clashes between
missionary and Muslim.
2
Pikkert refects on some of the theories as to why
Christianity has not been more suc-
cessful in reaching Muslims, ranging
from Reformation theology, which
saw Islam as an anti-Christ of the
last times, to Enlightenment philos-
ophy, which taught the doctrine of
individualism as if it were a tenant
of Christianity. Pikkert identifed the
Enlightenment and Western Impe-
rialism as signifcant contributors to
the culture clash
between the West and Islam. Te
other signifcant factors identifed by
Pikkert are internal to Islam the
loss of submission and the loss of Muslim identity
which he also cites as factors related to the clash of ideas.
Next, Pikkert reviews some of the history of Chris-
tian mission in Turkey, particularly the so-called Great
Experiment to reach the minority Orthodox Christians
through education and medical missions. A part of this
mission strategy employed by Protestant missionaries in
the Ottoman Empire was to reach the Muslim majority by
revitalizing the ancient Orthodox Churches.
3
One of the
challenges with this strategy is that the ancient Orthodox
churches tended to regard Protestants as heretics. Another
2
Pikkert, 6.between the West and Islam. Te other signifcant factors
identifed by Pikkert are internal to Islam the loss of submission and
the loss of Muslim identity which he also cites as factors related to
the clash of ideas.
3
Pikkert, 28.
According to Pikkert,
the propagation of
Western culture rather
than the Gospel of
Jesus is the most
signifcant factor in
the lack of success of
Christian mission in
the Middle East.
65
Another factor in the
failure of Protestant
mission to the Muslims
was the Muslim
response to Protestant
Christian propaganda
literature, which
often was liberal and
promoted the superiority
of Western civilization
over Islamic culture.
factor was that the Orthodox churches had existed for
centuries as a minority alongside the Muslim majority.
Evangelism to Muslims was not part of the dtente that
existed for centuries. In some cases, the Protestant work
among the Orthodox tribes led to catastrophic results and
even genocide.
Another strategy employed by Protestant missionaries
involved education. As early as 1824,
the Presbyterians attempted to spread
Christian knowledge by starting a
school for the education of Syrian
females.
4
Ironically, the mission-
aries were more progressive about
womens rights than even Western
Enlightenment society. Tis resulted
in confict not only among Muslims
but also with mission societies back
at home. Pikkert noted that Christian
missionaries found the condition
of Muslim women more appalling
than other Western observers. An
assumption of Western missionar-
ies was that Christianity was healthy
for civilization. Te missionary endeavor was as much
about civilizing the heathen as it was about spread-
ing the Gospel. Pikkert notes, Both theological liberals
(social gospellers) and conservatives (fundamentalists)
shared the assumption that Christianity was essential for
a healthy civilization. Although at home the rif between
conservatives and liberals would grow ever larger, on the
mission feld both were committed to the propagation
of Western culture.
5
Sin became identifed as ignorance.
Reformed Post-Millennialism transformed itself into
social gospel, making heaven on earth, that is, the benefts
of Western culture and society. According to Pikkert, the
propagation of Western culture rather than the Gospel of
Jesus is the most signifcant factor in the lack of success of
Christian mission in the Middle East.
Pikkert also refected on education, a pillar of Prot-
estant mission work. He notes in Istanbul, Te number
of those educated in the mission schools was signifcant,
totaling well over 100,000 students.
6
However, this Chris-
tian education did not lead to a single congregation being
started. As a mission strategy, the education of Muslim
4
Ibid, 29.
5
Pikkert, 30.
6
Ibid, 55.
children did not lead to the formation of Christian con-
gregations. He describes reaching Muslims via education
as the seeker sensitive enterprise with the seeker being
Christian minorities seeking to better their lives.
7
Te
failed strategy in Turkey in the 19th century should
provide a cautionary note for similar strategies being
employed today.
One of the exceptions to the
Great Experiment of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries noted by
Pikkert was that of the mission eforts
of the Lutherans. Te Lutherans
deliberately tried to reach the Muslim
majority. Te Lutheran Orient Mis-
sion Society (LOMS), known today
as Lutheran Mideast Development,
decided in 1910 to reach the Kurdish
people in present-day Iraq. Te frst
LOMS missionaries arrived in Kurd-
istan on Sept. 6, 1911. Te LOMS
sent L. O. Fossom, a pastor; Dr. Ed
Edman, a physician; and two nurses.
Between 1911 and 1916, the LOMS
missionaries established a Kurdish Lutheran congrega-
tion. Fossom began his work by producing a Kurdish
grammar and translating into Kurdish the four Gospels,
Luthers Small Catechism, a hymnbook containing 100
hymns, and a Lutheran liturgy.
8
Later in the book, Pik-
kert will refer to this Lutheran model, particularly the
establishment of a congregation and holding to a liturgical
order, as necessary for successful work among Muslims.
Te model followed by Fossom and advocated by Pikkert
is quite similar to the current strategy of the Missouri
Synod: Lutheran mission leads to Lutheran congre-
gations. Unfortunately, World War I brought an end to
Lutheran mission work in Kurdistan. Shortly afer World
War I in 1920, Fossom died, preventing the work from
resuming afer the war. Pikkert notes that the Protestant
missionaries had negligible efect on Muslim populations
and established no permanent congregations.
9
Another factor in the failure of Protestant mission
to the Muslims was the Muslim response to Protestant
Christian propaganda literature, which ofen was liberal
and promoted the superiority of Western civilization over
7
Ibid, 57.
8
Pikkert, 70.
9
Ibid, 89.
Islamic culture. Islamic scholars took note of higher crit-
icism that tore through Protestant Christianity. Islamic
scholars would promote the unity of the Koran in contrast
to biblical textual criticism that called into question the
words of the Jesus, the prophets and the apostles. Muslims
could point out to each other that the Christians do not
even agree what the text of the Bible is, unlike the text of
the Koran on which all Muslims agree. Besides demon-
strating the devastating efect of higher criticism on the
Christian faith, this should serve as a cautionary tale
on how certain scholarly activities in biblical criticism,
including textual criticism, are not helpful to the mis-
sionary endeavor. In essence, any scholarly, or so-called
scholarly, activity that causes doubt about the words
of Jesus and the Gospel is not helpful to the missionary
endeavor.
Pikkert not only describes the 19th- and 20th-century
history of Protestant mission in Turkey but also that of
the early 21st century. He notes that in 2005 some 1,300
missionaries from 50 organizations and 20 countries were
working in Turkey. Despite these eforts, Pikkert estimates
there are only 2,500 to 3,000 Protestant Christians in Tur-
key.
10
He also notes that despite some positive trends, the
number of missionaries who are theologically, linguisti-
cally and culturally properly equipped to share their faith
with the Muslim majority remains pathetically small.
11
Pikkert notes that while there are individual converts
to Christianity, Individual converts do not make a local
church.
12
Pikkert argues against the impulse that sharing
the Gospel in and of itself without intentionally starting a
church is enough. He notes that house churches inevitably
fail in a Muslim context, once the founding missionary
departs. However, when there is an intentional efort to
create a worshiping community as a church, it can and
does survive the service of a particular missionary (Te
house church movement has not taken of in the Middle
East Tey are more comfortable worshiping in a place
designated for such a purpose than a house.).
13
He also
notes that services must be in the indigenous language.
Services in English do not allow for an indigenous church
to form. Again, the model for successful mission among
10
Pikkert, 241
11
Ibid, 243
12
Pikkert, 244
13
Ibid, 273
the Muslims is to conduct a liturgical service in the lan-
guage of the people and form congregations. Tis is a
rather remarkable insight from a Baptist, since neither
of these recommendations are part of the Baptist tradi-
tion. His model is compatible with the Missouri Synods
emphasis that Lutheran mission leads to Lutheran con-
gregations.
Missouri Synods emphasis that Lutheran mission
leads to Lutheran congregations.
Finally, Pikkert ofers recommendations for a way for-
ward afer reviewing the history, mission strategies and
techniques of Protestant missions from 18002005. Pik-
kert writes, Both an over-emphasis on mission as Missio
Dei, as well as an over-commitment to saving the world in
a social and/or political sense, undermine the role of the
fedgling national church in missions . . . I have concluded
that the primary focus of the missionary community in
the Middle East, in particular, must be the establishment
of a loving, accepting community of Muslim background
Christians
14
In other words, Pikkert says a church must
be planted. He says that the mission enterprise must be
church centered. Pikkert cites a survey stating why Mus-
lims convert to Christianity. Te top two reasons given:
(1) A Christian lifestyle and witness and (2) Desire to
experience forgiveness.
15
Pikkert also notes Islamic wor-
ship is formalistic. Because of this some Muslims enjoy
this warmth of fellowship within the framework of the
liturgical aspect of church life.
16
In contrast to a contextu-
alized theology, which might lose the truths of the Bible,
Pikkert proposes a Church-centered New Testament
Spirituality Model for reaching out to Muslims.
17

In summary, Pikkert presents a fascinating descrip-
tion of the Protestant mission efort to the Muslims
(from 18002005), highlighting many aspects of failure
while presenting a model that is not only compatible
with Lutheran theology (planting churches), but one for
which the Lutheran church might be the best equipped
to undertake. When one considers the Finnish Lutheran
mission work in Turkey, the Istanbul Lutheran Church,
we see that they follow this model planting a congrega-
tion, holding liturgical worship in Turkish, and providing
14
Pikkert, 252
15
Ibid, 253
16
Ibid, 263.
17
Ibid, 266
67
Christian community to Muslims who they come in con-
tact with in their daily lives. Pikkerts book is well worth
the read for anyone interested in learning about mission
work to Muslims.
Te Rev. Dr. Albert Collver III is the LCMS director of
for the Ofce of International Mission and executive secre-
tary of the International Lutheran Council.

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September 2014 | Vol. 2 | No. 2

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