Are Lutherans Guilty of Picking and Choosing?

A friend of mine, who happens to be a Reformed Baptist pastor, said the following the other day:

"If the texts that say "this is my body" and "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you,.." are plain and simple why does "you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone"(James 2:24) now require the whole counsel of God to speak? Why one and not the other two?" ~Fernando Ramirez

This statement is worth addressing because I think there are clear Scriptural answers to this. He raises a legitimate question, to be sure. The answer to this lies in Scripture itself.

He posits that if we Lutherans are taking the Sacramental passages literally, we also ought to take the justification by works passage literally. There is good reason why we interpret them how we do of course.

First and foremost, all three of the statements require the whole counsel of God to speak. And therein lies the rub. We're not lifting the Sacramental passages out of the whole counsel of God and interpreting them in a vacuum. There is a clear reason as to why James 2:24 is interpreted in the light we interpret it (and I suspect it's the same way in which my Baptist friend interprets it).

Very simply put, there is nowhere in Scripture that leaves us to interpret the Sacramental passages in any other manner. In short, every passage about the Eucharist never even hints that "this is NOT My body." Nowhere do the Holy Scriptures intimate that Christ's body is not present in the Eucharist. Thus, we are left with the plain and simple meaning of Scripture on this one. "This is My body" means just that.

This sounds like a simplistic explanation of this one, but what else can we do? Why should we go looking for alternate interpretations of clear statements when Scripture never gives us any? Look up all the Eucharistic passages. This is not My body (or something like that) is nowhere to be found.

The same line of thought applies to Holy Baptism. Baptism passages in the New Testament are loaded with salvation. The didactic epistles are chock full of language that directly says that Baptism now saves us, buries us with Christ, raises us in faith, washes us clean, and so on. And again, nowhere does Scripture ever say anything about Baptism not saving us, or not uniting us to Christ, or being an outward profession of an inward change.

However, James 2:24 is a different animal. In that case, we have very plain passages that say the opposite. I refer specifically to Romans 4 and Ephesians 2.

Romans 4:4-5 (ESV): Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV): For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Thus, I would argue that passages like James 2 are strong correlations to passages like Ephesians 2:8-10. Faith in Christ desires to obey Him and thus works. With all the Reformers and Scripture, we assert that faith works in love, but the grounds of our justification is the finished work of Christ, given by grace and received in Word and Sacrament through faith alone.

But if we hold to justification by works, we make St. Paul and St. James contradict each other. That is a large problem. But in the case of Baptism and the Eucharist, this is not so, because Scripture never gives us any passages that would have us interpret the Sacraments in a different manner. Someone may object by using the justification by faith passages, but this is not a good argument. I addressed that here:

Baptism and Sola Fide

Interpreting James 2:24 in that manner however, is to directly contradict St. Paul. In other words, to interpret James 2:24 in a sense that we are justified before God by what we do (we earn it) is an error. And if it's not an error, then St. Paul is flat wrong!

On the other hand, we do not have that problem with the texts about the Sacraments. All the other inspired Scriptures regarding them support the interpretation of the Lutheran Church. Scripture never hints that Baptism is not salvific in nature. Likewise, Scripture never hints that the Eucharist is not the true body and blood of Christ.

It's very different with James 2.

+Grace and Peace+