Crossing the line

"In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say..." (Small Catechism, Daily Prayers)

Coming from an evangelical background, one of the oddest things to get accustomed to when exploring Lutheranism was the use of the sign of the cross. However, over the past months I've grown to greatly love this "excellent reminder of who we are: baptized children of God who have been redeemed by Christ the crucified" (LCMS FAQ), and now always use it in my own personal devotions.

But at our church, absolutely no-one whatsoever in the congregation makes the sign of the cross during Divine Service. This was something of a surprise for me: it'd taken quite some adjusting to the idea of this "papist" practice before first attending a Lutheran church, and I then had to adjust back to the fact people weren't in fact doing it (exactly the same applies to individual confession and absolution).

It feels rather odd for Divine Service to be the only time during the week when I don't make the sign of the cross during the invocation etc. I have tried doing so on occasion but it feels rather affected to be the only person doing it. I know that "Christians shouldn't even notice whether other Christians do such things" (to quote CS Lewis, as cited in the same FAQ) but I still feel very self-conscious about it, which is the worst of all things to feel in a church service! This is partly insecurity over whether I'm doing it "wrong" (though I do it "Lutheran style", right to left, as described in the FAQ) or at the "wrong time".

So - while I know, deep down, that this is a profoundly silly thread to be starting - I'd be interested to know what the practice is in other people's churches, and whether you think I should just grit my teeth and get on with it.

Romans 8 - "Let's workshop this thing!"

As I mentioned in the comments to an earlier post, for some time I've been trying to get to grips with Romans 8 from a Lutheran perspective, particularly what vv.1-17 have to say about "life in the Spirit".

In Reformed and evangelical circles, the assumption seems to be that "walking in the Spirit" - synonymous with "[living] according to the Spirit" (v.5) and "[setting] the mind on the Spirit" (v.6) - means living in obedience to "the law of the Spirit of life", in other words a form of law-keeping, but a law-keeping that we are now enabled to perform, since we have the Spirit.

For example, a Moore College (i.e. Sydney Diocese) correspondence course on Romans refers to "the indwelling presence and power of the Spirit in the believer's life" and the need to "conduct your life under the Spirit's direction and control" and to engage in "a ruthless rejection of all those practices we know to be sinful". It quotes John Stott as saying, "[to live according to the Spirit] is a question of our preoccupations, the ambitions which compel us and the interests which engross us; how we spend our time, money and energy; what we give ourselves up to."

But I wonder if this is correct. Looking at the verbs Paul uses, it is clear that this is all "a done deal". In other words, Gospel, not Law. "There is now no condemnation ... the law of the Spirit of Christ has set you free ... For God has done ... if Christ is in you ... the Spirit is life because of righteousness ..." etc.

So my (tentative) interpretation of the key phrases relating to "life in the Spirit" in this chapter is:

1. Paul is using the word "law" ironically when he writes of "the law of the Spirit of life". Note how "the law of sin and death" in v.2 becomes just "the law" in v.3. "The law of the Spirit of life" is that which "has set you free", which means that "there is therefore now no condemnation". It describes the process by which God has condemned sin in His Son (v.3) so that "the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us" (note the passive voice there) by Christ's fulfilment of the law on our behalf. In a word, "the law of the Spirit of life" is the Gospel of justification by faith on account of Christ.

2. To "walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" is thus to believe the promises of the Gospel (see Galatians 3:2). Ditto to "set [one's] mind on the things of the Spirit". In the context of Romans, walking "according to the flesh" encompasses not only outright wickedness, but also attempts to achieve justification by one's own works.

3. We "put to death the deeds of the body" by the Spirit primarily by believing the promise that they are put to death on account of Christ and in our Baptism (see Romans 6:1ff.). It is about the daily contrition and repentance by which the Old Adam in us is drowned, not about gritting our teeth and trying harder to obey some "spiritual law".

However, as mentioned above, I'd welcome any refinements/corrections to this summary, which has been prepared in full consultation with all the Lutheran commentaries on Romans that I possess (i.e. none - and no, not even that one). The Hebrews 12 workshop will then follow in due course...