In ages past, the Confessing Lutherans had problems with Crypto-Calvinism seeping into Lutheran churches. And this problem was dealt with swiftly and decisively. The trend now, at least in the United States within Lutheranism, is that Arminianism is seeping in. Thankfully we have steered clear of outright Pelagianism, although I would venture to guess that this also is out there somewhere in various Lutheran churches. This Crypto-Arminianism also needs to be dealt with swiftly and decisively.
This shouldn't surprise us however. All around us in the United States are mainstream Evangelical churches, Pentecostalism, and even cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Latter Day Saints. Not to mention the enormous Roman Catholic Church and the fringe semi-cultish body known as the Seventh Day Adventists. What do all of the aforementioned faith bodies have in common? Synergism and libertarian free will. Certainly it is not my intent to lump evangelicals in with the cults, and the same goes for Roman Catholicism. But they all do affirm synergism and free will.
So it's not shocking that these ideas have crept into Confessional Lutheran churches. In reality, the only two major church bodies of theology that are not synergistic are Confessional Lutheranism and Reformed Theology. Certainly we have our share of disagreements with the Reformed, but monergism is not one of them.
The fact of the matter is that Confessional Lutheranism does not allow for synergism in any form as it is classically understood. This means that Classical Arminianism is not within the bounds of Lutheranism. It's as acceptable to Confessional Lutheranism as say, Calvinism.
In other words, as we have dealt with Crypto-Calvinism as well as the Philippists on the basis of God's Word, we need to be wary of Cryto-Arminianism as well. It has no place in Confessional Lutheranism. Synergism and free will do not belong here. They do not fit within our Confessions and are decidedly not Lutheran.
This must be dealt with at a local level with our faithful pastors teaching God's Word and the Lutheran Confessions.
+Pax+
So monergistic without being Calvinist. And objective faith received subjectively without Arminianism.
ReplyDeleteAgree completely. Sometimes Lutherans are so eager to distance themselves from Calvinists that they forget there's another side they need to be equally as vigilant (if not more so in some regards) in guarding against.
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