The Blessings of Protestant Christianity

Published on by D. G. Hart

Reading Luther this morning I came across this from his commentary on Romans:

Yes, certainly, we are the Lord’s, and this is our greatest joy and comfort, that we have as a Lord Him unto whom the Father has given all power in heaven and on earth, and into whose hands He has given all things. Who, then, can and will harm us? The devil may well rage with wrath, but he cannot tear us out of His hands. Further, are not we who believe in Jesus Christ our Lord, and live under His protection, also in Him and through Him, ourselves made lords over the devil, sin, and death? For He was made man for our sake (that He might win for us such lordship). For our sake He entreated the Father, and so loved us that He became a curse for us and gave himself a sacrifice for us. With His dear blood He bought us and washed us clean from sin. And again He has given us in our hearts the pledge of our inheritance and salvation, the Holy Spirit, and has made us kings and priests before God. In short, He has made us children and heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Himself. Yes, truly, this is a faithful saying. . . .

Can non-Protestants claim this? Why wouldn’t they want to?

10 thoughts on “The Blessings of Protestant Christianity”

  1. I Cor 7:22 “he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is slave of Christ.”

    But let’s not forget that Luther read I Cor 7 to justify “Christian magistrates” killing peasant parasites.

    Luther: “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”

    mark: Adventism means waiting for the Lord to come. And waiting does not mean we have to take sides with the order of the status quo. Romans 13 is a prohibition of a revolution for a Christian nation-state. Revolution only exchanges one demon for another. Christ’s victory over the powers does not mean that any present nation-state has a Christological sanction.

    Though devils all the world should fill,
    All eager to devour us.
    We tremble not, we fear no ill,
    They shall not overpower us.
    This world’s prince may still
    Scowl fierce as he will,
    He can harm us none,
    He’s judged; the deed is done;
    One little word can fell him.

    The Word they still shall let remain
    Nor any thanks have for it;
    He’s by our side upon the plain
    With His good gifts and Spirit.
    And take they our life,
    Goods, fame, child and wife,
    Let these all be gone,
    They yet have nothing won;
    The Kingdom remaineth.

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  2. I don’t know why non-Protestants would not want to claim it, other than they are taught that they must play their part…fulfill their part in it all. Which changes the entire dynamic.

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  3. Steve,

    You’d be surprised at the neo-romanists parading around as protestant pastors, particularly of the Keller-stripe. I know a pastor who got reprimanded at presbytery during ordination exam for not giving proper deference to the Bishop of Rome. That’s when you look around and say ‘ I never even saw that rabbit hole.’

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  4. sean,

    That just blows my mind, in one sense. And in another, it doesn’t surprise me at all.

    This human creature has a very hard time with grace…alone. We (many of us) always are on the lookout for a handhold. A trump card that we can keep in our back pocket…just in case.

    Thanks, friend.

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  6. Matthew Gaetano: I don’t see why I can’t claim it. I’m pretty sure that I do.

    RS: Matthew, if you are a Roman Catholic then you believe in free-will of sorts. In that case, your will is in your own hands for you to do as you please. I don’t think you can be consistent and claim that you are all His and that all power and authority is His.

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  8. Matt, do Roman Catholics really affirm assurance? One of the common critiques about Protestantism from RCs is that assurance leads to complacency and antinomianism.

    But even if you do, does your church? Which raises a whole set of questions about the options for individual Roman Catholics within the corporate communion.

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  9. I am not certain of my predestination; a “rash presumption” of predestination is condemned by Trent. But that is pretty standard in the Augustinian tradition, and I’m not sure that it is required by this passage.

    I can have a moral certainty that I am in a state of friendship with God, that I belong to Him, that I inhere to Christ’s mystical body, etc., etc. Nevertheless, I cannot have an absolute certainty or the certitude of faith regarding my personal salvation (since it is not something in Scripture to which I assent because of the faithfulness of God), particularly my perseverance until the end, but I can have great hope, even confidence, because of the mercy of God and the work that He has begun in me, etc.

    Trent also condemns that certainty is *required* for salvation.

    Nothing that I’m saying, as far as I know, is very controversial among Catholic theologians, though you might have some Catholics who reflexively condemn certain elements in Protestant soteriology without knowing the tradition or what is actually condemned by Trent or the subtle ways that Calvin and others address these very points.

    Stephen Pfurtner wrote a very nice book on the issue of assurance that moves the ball forward, though more reflection on these themes is necessary.

    I suppose that, if my own sins committed after Baptism are included in what cannot in any way separate me from Christ, then I wouldn’t be able to affirm this quotation, though that is not entirely clear to me in the text. But I’m not sure how far what I’ve just said departs, say, from the Formula of Concord #31-36, despite the attack on Trent contained there… :

    http://bookofconcord.org/sd-goodworks.php

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  10. Matt, I was thinking of this kind of assurance from the Belgic Confession:

    Moreover, although we do good works we do not base our salvation on them; for we cannot do any work that is not defiled by our flesh and also worthy of punishment. And even if we could point to one, memory of a single sin is enough for God to reject that work.

    So we would always be in doubt, tossed back and forth without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be tormented constantly if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior.

    In other words, justification by faith eliminates doubts and fears about whether we have kept the law.

    Thanks, by the way, for letting us have something that Rome doesn’t have. You guys have the authority, the history, the comprehensiveness, the beauty (though I have doubts about today’s liturgical music). Protestants need something that makes us attractive. Then again, seems like the sufficiency of Christ has its limits.

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