The Contemplative Lutheran

The following questions came from a sincere Evangelical inquirer into the Protestant Catholic faith. Having been exposed to the claims of Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and other Christian denominations, they were hoping to clarify certain foundational questions regarding the larger Protestant tradition within which they happily identify. The questions themselves were well put and properly fundamental. Answering as a Confessional Lutheran Pastor, what follows will hopefully be helpful to others as they also may be thinking through these same issues. It does not pretend to be exhaustive. The answers are thus simple and not encumbered by excessive references, though for all that hopefully not simplistic.  1. Who has the right Canon?  The Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox cannot agree between each other as to what the right Canon of Scripture is. They each boast exclusively that their own “magisterial authorities” settle the issue “infallibly...

How can we, as Confessional Lutherans, understand the acceptability of the practice of ceaseless prayer as famously taught in the Eastern churches?  As long as it is not confused with the false construct of late Byzantine EO Palamite soteriology, but is understood properly in the light of the Gospel, then such prayer is fine, and can even be helpful, whether as "ceaseless prayer" (1 Thessalonians 5:17, cf. Luke 18:1, 18:7, 21:36; Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2) or as a continual meditation on (cf. Psalms 1:2; 119:15, 97, 98, 99) and recollection of God, or both. Interestingly enough, St. John Cassian wrote of this practice of ceaseless prayer/meditation in the early 5th Century, in his book, The Conferences , having been taught it even earlier while younger and travelling to Egypt in the late 4th, where he was instructed by an old desert father, Abba Isaac, who had himself known Anthony the Great. Abba Isaac, already old at the time of the conversation with John...

Contrary to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, Eastern Orthodox sacramentology affirms the Sacrifice of the Mass.  For example, Decree 17 of what is for them the universally authoritative Jerusalem Council of 1672 states of the Eucharist: "Further, that it is a true and propitiatory Sacrifice offered for all Orthodox, living and dead." They also affirm transubstantiation, again in Decree 17: "But [he is present] truly and really, so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, the bread is transmuted, transubstantiated, converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord... and the wine is converted and transubstantiated into the true Blood Itself of the Lord..." And:  "Further [we believe] that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, there no longer remains the substance of the bread and of the wine, but the Body Itself and the Blood of the Lord, under the species and form of bread and wine; that is to say, under the ...

Mankind as a mass will stand on the Last Day before the Judgment Seat of Christ and there be judged, a judgment which Matthew 25 describes as resulting in being separated into two classes, one of sheep and another of goats. A few passages from Scripture will establish the terms of reference: Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:32 ESV) The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31 ESV) So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous (Matthew 13:49 ESV) The criterion of judgment appears to be works, especially works of mercy: And he will place the sheep on his right, but the g...

Regarding infant baptism, one of the key things that bears witness to the rightness of the practice is its historical catholicity. For example...  From as far East as one could go to as far West, and as far North and as far South, Christians could be found baptizing their infants. It would be an amazing conspiracy if all of the whole Church in disparate places somehow concurrently came to universally practice infant baptism if it was not apostolic.  To assert such a conspiracy has quite the burden of proof, especially since there were no controversies over the practice of infant baptism, nor a centralized authority urging such a practice on protesting churches. But someone may point out that not every single Christian practiced infant baptism, and some even suggested delaying it until later, for example, Tertullian.  This objection to infant baptism struggles, however, because it does not prove as much as it perhaps hopes to. It is important to note that those promoting t...

The relationship between Original Sin and Original Guilt is a self-evident and necessary one. It is also frequently misunderstood. For if someone is able to understand Original Sin aright, then they still may stumble over Original Guilt. Upon examination, the reason for this stumbling is perhaps most frequently found to be, not in the concept itself, but in the English word guilt . For this word is both highly charged and polyvalent, and as a result ends up carrying connotations in the English language that, if left unchecked, create a formidable, yet unnecessary, impasse to understanding this orthodox doctrine. A little investigation will therefore be necessary in order to clarify just how the word guilt is being used in the term Original Guilt. It is also worth noting, since the English word “guilt” is prone to misunderstanding when translated from a colloquial, legal, or psychological context into a theological one, the danger is that a person can study the theological concept of Or...