The Lutheran Middle 1

Overview

Walking the Narrow Middle of Scripture

Sound doctrine matters because Scripture insists that it does. Every time the Bible is opened, theology—the study of God—is happening, and our task is to make sure our theology lines up with what God has actually said. Since God cannot contradict Himself, and since His Word is breathed out by Him, His Word cannot contradict itself either. Paul reminds Timothy that "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" 2 Timothy 3:16. That means Scripture—not our preferences—is trustworthy for both faith and life.

When two biblical truths seem to stand in tension, three errors tempt us. First, we can dismiss the Bible altogether, including the subtle dismissal that labels difficult passages as mere "opinion." Second, we can deny specific truths because they offend us, which simply enthrones our own judgment as the final authority. Third—and most subtly—we can overemphasize one truth until it crowds out another and becomes an error. Overemphasize God's love and grace, and you end up denying hell or sliding into universalism. Overemphasize God's sovereignty in salvation (as Calvin did) and you end up teaching that God predestines some to damnation; overcorrect that (as Arminius did) and you deny original sin and make salvation depend on our free will. The Lutheran middle holds both biblical truths together: if we are saved, it is wholly God's work; if we are lost, it is wholly our own fault. We let God be God rather than forcing a resolution our reason demands.

The root of these ditches is usually the same: reason rising up to rule the Word instead of serving it. Reason is a gift of God, useful for ordering life and even for studying Scripture. But because our reason is corrupted by sin, it resists submitting to God's Word—especially regarding salvation, where "the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" 1 Corinthians 1:18. Paul dismantles fallen reason in Romans 3:5-8, refusing the absurd logic that we should sin so grace may abound. Reason apart from the Word will always rationalize sin ("we love each other"), redefine doctrine ("'this is my body' must be symbolic"), or invent doctrines Scripture never teaches (purgatory, the sinlessness of Mary, prayers to the saints).

Satan himself works this way. When he tempted Jesus to throw Himself from the temple, he quoted Psalm 91:11—but conveniently left out the phrase "to guard you in all your ways" Matthew 4:5-7. God's promise of protection assumes we are walking in His ways, not testing Him through foolishness. Twisted Scripture is still a lie. The pastoral takeaway is simple but costly: when the Bible conflicts with your reasoning, take Luther's posture—doff the doctor's cap and assume the Holy Spirit knows more than you do. In the weeks ahead we will trace this narrow middle through doubt and presumption, security and despair, providence and prayer, good works and bad works, love of the world and contempt for it, the priesthood of all believers and the office of the ministry, election and the Great Commission, and the hope of heaven and faithful service here and now. Keep your eyes riveted on the Word, and the ditches lose their pull.

Transcript

One of the emphasis of this congregation because it is an emphasis of Scripture is 0s

doctrine. It is incorrect to say that whenever the Bible is taught there's no 6s

theology. There's always theology. Theology simply means the study of God. 13s

And so we want to make sure that our theology lines up with Scriptures. We want 20s

to make sure our doctrine is correct. So that's why you see continually in the 26s

New Testament this encouragement all the time to be correct in your doctrine, to 32s

be correct in the teachings. That's going to be a focus on the on the Lutheran 39s

middle as we go through. We're going to focus on how our doctrine is applied in 46s

specific situations where it seems like the Scripture is giving two 54s

contradictory statements. And so what do you do with that? Well you start with 60s

the first thing you say to yourself, does God contradict himself? Does God 67s

contradict himself? Well the answer to that is obviously no. So then the second 72s

question comes to mind then would God's word since this word is exhaled out to us? 78s

Would his word then contradict itself? Well if God can't contradict himself without 85s

him no longer being God and God has given us his word it is God breathed. 93s

Therefore his word cannot contradict itself. So you start then with that 99s

question. But what do you do though in those times when it seems as if Scripture 108s

is contradicting itself? There are three extremes that you can go to. One is you 116s

can simply dismiss the Bible altogether. Just dismiss it as an authority. Say it's 126s

simply a collection of writings and what you know we'll just dismiss it. You see 136s

this oftentimes not in wholesale rejection but also rejections of parts of the 145s

Bible. Sometimes you'll read along in a book and if you ever get this sentence 153s

it's an opportunity for you to close the book and get rid of the book. When 159s

someone says well this is Paul's opinion. This is Paul's opinion. Well no it's not 164s

Paul's opinion because Paul is being used by God to record this in its holy 171s

Scripture so it's God's opinion. So one of the extremes you can go to is you 178s

can just dismiss the word entirely. Another thing that you can do is you can 184s

deny certain truths. You can simply say well that which is shared in the 190s

Scripture with regard to this subject it's not true. It's just not true. It's an 197s

interesting discussion when people say that the next question to follow up with 205s

them is to say can you show me why you are denying that truth by Scripture? And what 212s

happens then is they say well no I can't show you that by Scripture but I just 221s

know it's not true. So then they're in a box aren't they? Because what then is 228s

the source of their authority it's themselves to determine for themselves what is 234s

correct and what is incorrect. You see that all the time people either dismiss 244s

the Bible in its entirety people will deny certain truths or people will 249s

overemphasize a truth where the truth becomes an error. Over emphasis of the 255s

truth where the truth becomes an error. Let's go to second Timothy the third 269s

chapter. Second Timothy is in the New Testament. Galatians, Ephesians, 276s

Philippians and then Colossians then you hit the T-books. You hit first and 283s

second Thessalonians then you hit first and second Timothy. So second Timothy 287s

chapter three verse 10 if you've hit Titus turn left. Second Timothy chapter 293s

three verse 10. Here Paul writing under the inspiration of the Spirit says 301s

this, now you have observed my teaching my conduct my aim in life my faith my 313s

patience my love my steadfastness my persecutions and my suffering the things 320s

that happen to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra what persecutions I endured yet 327s

the Lord rescued me from all of them indeed all who want to live a godly life in 336s

Christ Jesus will be persecuted but wicked people and imposter will go from bad 343s

to worse deceiving others and being deceived but as for you continue in what 350s

you have learned and firmly believe knowing from who you learned it and how 357s

from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you 363s

for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all scripture is inspired Greek 369s

there means exhaled by God all scripture is exhaled by God and is useful for 376s

teaching for reproof for correction for training and righteousness so that 382s

everyone who belongs to God may be proficient equipped for every good work the 388s

scripture then is trustworthy for doctrine for our faith and for our life and we're 397s

going to see in this class how God balances truths we'll see how one truth makes 405s

another truth more clear and we're going to example that we're going to examine the 415s

narrow middle of scripture and how if error is made you wind up in the ditch on 422s

either side the devil tries to manipulate our struggle to stay on the narrow 433s

middle so Satan is at work with regard to this let's go to Matthew the fourth 442s

chapter please Matthew chapter four very first book in the New Testament Matthew 448s

chapter four verse five 457s

Matthew four picking up in verse five and there we read then the devil took him to 469s

the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle that's Jesus on the pinnacle of the 476s

temple saying to him if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it is 481s

written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will 487s

bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against the stone Jesus said to 494s

him again it is written do not put the Lord your God to the test notice here how 500s

Jesus fights temptation he fights temptation by the work look again here at at 506s

verse five if you're the verse six if you're the son of God throw yourself down 514s

for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands 519s

they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone well 525s

there's a promise here in scripture right there's a promise that God will 533s

protect his people God will protect his people that's a truth isn't it however look 538s

how Satan uses the word here turn over please to Psalm 91 an easy way to find the 549s

book of Psalms is just open up the scriptures to the middle Psalm 91 verse 11 557s

and it's interesting here that when Satan quotes scripture Satan just leaves out 569s

a little bit here of Psalm 91 that he's quoting so when Psalm 91 verse 11 it says 575s

for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways on 586s

their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a 593s

stone interesting there in Matthew the fourth chapter that what Satan 599s

eliminates is to guard you in all your ways the assumption here in Psalm 91 is that our ways 604s

will be in accordance with God's word God does not promise to protect me if following the 615s

11 o'clock service I say I'm going to blindfold myself and walk across northwest 629s

highway as an expression of faith in the protective hand of Almighty God no that 638s

would just simply be dumb right that would be dumb so we've got the promise God 649s

will protect you but Satan leaves out the part in all of your ways assuming that you 657s

will enact in accordance with what God wants you to do which would not be put a blindfold 667s

on and walk across northwest highway faced with the promises of scripture faced with the 674s

truths of scripture we can be tempted to overemphasize one truth and thereby fall into air for 685s

example we can overemphasize the grace and love of God so that we then say since God is so 699s

loving filled with grace there is no hell you see that's where you overemphasize one promise and 711s

you fall in the ditch of air we can overemphasize the grace and love of God so that we wind up in the 723s

ditch of the error of universalism that says everyone in the end will be saved no matter what it is 734s

they believe or don't believe that's universalism in the end God's going to save everybody and the 743s

argument of the universalists is because God is so loving and gracious see what happens that's not 752s

dismissal of scripture denial you make arguments that it is but it's an overemphasis of one truth 764s

to where one falls then in the ditch of air why do we wind up in so many ditches the reason why 773s

one can wind up in so many ditches why one can stray from the middle of scripture where we see 786s

God balancing truths and we have to hold those truths together one of the reasons why we can wind 794s

up in the ditches is we listen to reason where reason takes control where the word of God should be in 801s

control now is is reason a blessing well sure it is is reason a gift of God absolutely reason 814s

provides order in life by helping us make reasonable decisions have you ever heard the phrase or 822s

used to use it yourself what would you use your head use your head here or I didn't use my head 828s

when I when I made that decision well that's just simply referring to reason reason is helpful 836s

in the study of of scripture as you're comparing passages as you're looking at the meaning of words 843s

as you're tracking down things in scripture reason is helpful but when it comes to theology 852s

and remember what theology is the Greek word for God is Theos T-H-E-O-S so you've got God written in 860s

theology is the study of God when it comes to theology reason must have the role of servant 870s

to the word of God reason doesn't want to accept that role why because our reason is corrupted 879s

by sin so we want to elevate our reason above the word of God have you ever heard as you're talking 890s

about something a matter of faith with someone and they say to you I don't care what the scripture says 903s

I know what I think you see that's the elevation of a person's reason above the scripture 913s

where the person says well what seems sensible to me the sharpest conflict between the 926s

fallen reason and the word of God is found in the doctrine of salvation that is the sharpest conflict 938s

between our fallen reason and the word of God it's right at the doctrine of salvation let's go to 949s

first Corinthians the first chapter Matthew Mark Luke John, Acts and then Romans first Corinthians 956s

first Corinthians chapter 1 will pick up in verse 18 967s

for the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved 989s

it's the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment 999s

of the discerning I will thwart where's the one who's wise where's the scribe where's the debater of 1009s

this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for since in the wisdom of God the world 1017s

did not know God through wisdom God decided through the foolishness of our proclamation to save those 1028s

who believe or in Romans the third chapter Romans the book right before first Corinthians Romans 1038s

chapter 3 verse 5 pull dismantles reason here 1047s

so Romans chapter 3 verse 5 1062s

but if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God what should we say that God is unjust to 1068s

inflict wrath on us I speak in a human way by no means for then how could God judge the world 1081s

but if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory why am I still being condemned as a 1093s

sinner and why not say as some people slander us by saying that we say let us do evil so that good 1103s

may come their condemnation is deserved Paul is addressing the absurdity that we should go ahead and 1115s

sin so that God has opportunities to show his grace and love to us see that's a fallen reason 1127s

who says this is fantastic forgiveness to God God likes to forgive so I'll give him opportunities 1137s

to forgive me it's a win win right it's a win for us and it's a win for God we're all happy 1152s

we'll just sin up a store you see Paul takes reason in correct use and dismantles it 1163s

he knew the narrow middle between contempt for God's gift of reason on the one hand 1177s

and enthronement of reason over God's word on the other hand and he avoids the ditch by holding 1186s

to the truth think of think of Satan's blatant attacks just blatant attacks on the word 1201s

with regard for example to the Ten Commandments the murderer who reasons that his own life 1210s

will that his own life and well-being are somehow threatened by the continued life of his enemy 1220s

therefore his enemy should be murdered see that's reason go on a stray 1228s

the two people having sex outside of the marital union or the adulterer who says 1240s

but we love each other we love each other 1249s

how about doctrine Jesus says this is my body this is my blood 1256s

reason says Jesus could not have meant that so plainly so is doesn't mean is 1265s

because it doesn't fit reasonably how can you have bread and wine and say this is my body 1279s

and this is my blood that doesn't fit reason and so reason leads you then into a symbolic understanding 1291s

with regard to holy communion because it's more compatible to reason to say that when we come 1303s

forward to communion what we're receiving is a little bit of wine or grape juice and bread and 1313s

that is a reminder of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross that seems reasonable but Jesus 1321s

did not say did he he didn't say let this piece of bread remind you of the cross ahead let this 1333s

wine remind you of my blood that will be shed he said this is my body and this is my blood 1344s

and he refers to bread and wine so we take scripture then at face value and we say 1359s

if scripture says bread and wine body and blood we say what is communion 1369s

Luther wrote holy communion is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine 1376s

for the forgiveness of sin is that hard for our head to wrap around sure 1384s

but is that what the scripture says yes and so we bow to the authority of scripture and reason 1396s

becomes the servant of the word we see in scripture where the word is ignored all together 1406s

in Catholic doctrine you have the creation it is non-scriptural of purgatory where one goes to work 1422s

off their sinfulness to make themselves worthy enough for heaven that the sins are forgiven prior 1430s

to baptism but now you've got to work off the sins with regard to after baptism and so you go to 1441s

purgatory to work that out that makes sense to the reason right it makes sense to a reason 1451s

that's used to works righteousness works righteousness is all about us around us in our society it 1458s

makes sense to us that indeed we then have to work off our salvation is it scriptural absolutely not 1465s

absolutely not reason says well Mary must have been without sin after all her womb held the savior 1476s

that sounds reasonable is it scriptural no 1487s

praying to the saints to intercede for us that sounds reasonable 1495s

because why not get a few friends here that can kind of help us out before the Almighty right 1501s

does it sound reasonable sure is it scriptural no reason can act even more subtly 1511s

reason can pretend to defend one truth of God in order to dismiss another for example 1523s

Kelvin held up the truth that indeed our salvation is totally the work of God we contribute nothing 1534s

to it it is totally the work of God what Christ has done for us on the cross totally the work of God 1542s

faith is a gift Kelvin held up that we contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation 1551s

but Kelvin falls in the ditch because he then says God chose some to be saved and some to be damned 1560s

so he falls in the ditch of error why because there's the overemphasizing of one truth 1570s

and that is God's action in our salvation what Kelvin ignores is what scripture says that if we don't 1581s

believe then it's totally our own fault and so by overemphasizing one truth you wind up in a 1589s

ditch what what's the Lutheran middle what is what does Lutheran say if you believe it's totally the 1600s

work of God if you don't believe it's solely your own fault well how do you resolve that by reason 1606s

well you don't because if you resolve it by reason you're gonna you're gonna let go 1612s

by overemphasizing one truth over the other so you let the word stand as it is and you know 1623s

God has got it figured out in God's own mind and that's good enough for me you too 1629s

we just let God be God so then you have Arminius who comes along Arminius reacts to Kelvin Arminius says 1636s

that we are the ones that are responsible for our salvation because we accept what Jesus Christ did 1649s

on the cross with our free will we accept what Jesus Christ did on the cross what happens with 1658s

Arminius Arminius just falls on the other ditch right just falls on the other ditch and what 1665s

Arminius denies is our original sin how scripture says we are fallen and blind and dead and enemies 1672s

of God period so what can happen then is Satan can work very subtly and can lead to the over-emphasis 1679s

of truth which actually winds you up in air where reason comes in and says what is reasonable 1691s

for us instead of reason submitting to the authority of the word Luther said this when something in the 1702s

Bible conflicts with my reason I simply doth off my doctor's cap and assume that the Holy Spirit the 1713s

ultimate author of the scriptures is a little smarter than doctor Luther got it right right 1724s

he puts reason in place in the weeks ahead by God's grace we're going to stay on the on the 1733s

middle road affirming the truths of scripture so that the ditches we don't wind up in 1742s

because our eyes are riveted on the word of God so we're going to take a look at the Lutheran 1755s

middle between doubt and presumption between carnal security and despair between an exclusive 1763s

emphasis on God's providence or on God's promises concerning prayer the middle between good works 1772s

and bad works the middle between idolatrous love of the world and ungrateful contempt for the 1780s

world the middle between the universal priesthood of all believers and the office of the minister 1786s

the middle between the doctrine of election and the great commission the middle between our 1794s

anticipation of heaven heaven and serving Christ in the here and now it's great to have you as part 1801s

of this class we'll continue next week 1810s