Luther famously said that to be a real theologian takes oratio, meditatio, and tentatio. The first two are clear enough: prayer and meditation (on God’s Word). But tentatio is not so easily translated from the Latin. It can mean “trial, test, attack, temptation.” What does THAT have to do with spiritual formation?
John Kleinig, in his book Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today–a book that would make a great Christmas present for any serious Christian–explores this.
Luther proposed an evangelical pattern of spirituality as reception rather than self-promotion. This involves three things: prayer, meditation, and temptation. All three revolve around ongoing, faithful attention to God’s Word.
The order of the list is significant, for unlike that traditional pattern of devotion, the spiritual life begins and ends here on earth. These three terms describe the life of faith as a cycle that begins with prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit, concentrates on the reception of the Holy Spirit through meditation on God’s Word, and results in spiritual attack.
This, in turn, leads a person back to further prayer and intensified meditation. Luther, therefore, does not envisage the spiritual life as a process of self-development, but as a process of reception from a triune God. This process of reception turns proud, self-sufficient individuals into humble beggars before God.” (Page 16)
We’ll be talking more about such “attack” in subsequent posts. But do you know what he’s talking about? Some people see temptation as a sign of spiritual failure, but notice how Luther and Kleinig see it, if it drives us to deeper prayer and meditation, as part of the Christian life and of Christian growth.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Great stuff.
Personally, I think a better rendering into english would be “prayer, reflection, and trials.” Rendering ‘tentatio’ as ‘temptation’ or ‘attack’ gives the impression (in english) that the difficulties come from some other source and for our harm. Trials come from God, and they are for our blessing. What better exercise is there to refine and clarify our faith than to trust God and give him thanks, not (only) for the joys and blessings, but even (especially) for the trials, failures, and heartaches?
This is truly great stuff. The Christian life is meant to be lived in this world. None of this “turn your eyes upon Jesus . . . and the things of earth will grow strangely dim . . .” stuff.
This seems to gel (not surprisingly) quite nicely with Luther’s thoughts on Vocation. As Christians we call out to God as we are dependent on His Spirit. We receive His wisdom in His Word and go about our daily lives in the realm of Vocation only to struggle as we face numerous trials which drive us to our knees in prayer and humility.
If temptation is considered a spiritual failure, was the Christ ever tempted?
You have to be careful how you use temptation here. ‘God tempts no one…” And I can imagine some thinking if temptation makes a theologian maybe I ought to change where I eat lunch.
But as you said the tentatio is a hard word to translate. Perhaps the best way to handle that is not to translate it. We Lutheran’s have managed to import so many words into our theological English from German, why not a couple more from Latin?
“And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Is. 30: 20 ff.
So many of the “trials” that come to us we bring upon ourselves, often inadvertently. For me as a believer, there is that voice “behind me”, which guides and rebukes and directs not necessarily before tentatio, but in the midst of it. This sort of thing either strengthens one’s faith or drives one to scream, “Why do you DO IT this way, Lord???”
Temptation is connected with persecution always. At its most fundamental point the temptation in whatever form it takes is temptation that pulls one away from the naked promise and Gospel of Christ. This is the end all of all persecution whether of the sword outwardly or via doctrine. In fact the outward persecutions are merely minor, per se, in so much as they are done to basically pull one from trusting God by saying, “See God has abandoned you”. All are a subtle form of “hath God really said”. Whether open persecution, secular doctrine or even heterodox doctrine for all vex the conscience of that which faith is fixed upon in order to pull a man away from Christ alone. One may be vexed simply by atheist saying and casting doubt upon the Scriptures as Scripture and even more vexed of conscience over the sacraments than anything else. E.g. I once had a friend of mine, my closest friend and a Baptist pastor say to me once that he would not rebaptize one baptized as an infant in his church for he would not dare take away from them something they thought God had given them. Though I knew his intent in this I told him, “don’t you see that that is the worse attack of all that is given against this Gospel in baptism? It’s not that you are attacking it directly or desiring to do so but you state it, due to the necessity of your own doctrine, that it is subjective ‘something THEY THINK God has given them’.” Therein comes the subtle, “hath God really said”, because no Christian cares if “they think it is true”, subjectively, but whether God has SAID and it IS true. That’s just one of a thousand examples; prayer for the Spirit, the Spirit is given in wonderous doctrine, then the counter attack doctrine comes to cast doubt upon it. This may be from far outside the church, secularism and other religions, or via heterodoxy near the doors of the church.
Related: Luther makes a stunning paradoxical statement, I cannot recall where at the moment (I think its in Oberman’s book on Luther man between God and the devil, when he says (my paraphrase from memory), ‘that the ultimate persecution is no persecution at all’. Luther realized that faith thrives in persecution and this three fold pray, meditation, temptation formula begets this reality. Under temptation one is driven to prayer and thus receives and faith thus grows and is fed. Yet, the paradoxical worse persecution to have is no persecution at all. This most violently, ironically, attacks faith in the worse way. It doesn’t attack faith directly and one is not immediately driven back to prayer and meditation. However, eventually it does drive faith to prayer and meditation for one begins to wonder, “why is this faith not attacked”, the fear being, “because there is no faith here”, and THIS drives one back to prayer and then meditation. It’s paradoxical because it doesn’t look like direct persecution by sword or doctrine as we normally perceive it, in fact it looks like “alls well”, and that’s its real hidden deadly force. It is more deadly than any persecution. This, I think, is what Luther was driving at.
Larry
Dr. David Scaer is helpful here in his
article in the CTQ:
http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/scaeranfechtung.pdf
Larry,
I’m not sure ‘temptation,’ as you discuss it, is to be equated with Luther’s ‘tentatio.” Such temptation, as you say, is done to “pull one from trusting God.” Your points are well taken, but Luther’s use in this particular context is the making of a theologian. He is not speaking of the danger of ‘tentatio,’ (a valid point), but the blessing of ‘tentatio.’ The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh do not make a theologian. God makes a theologian.
The workshop of this divine fashioning is the oratio, meditatio, and tentatio of a pious life. It is God who gives the adversity and affliction, as Bruce quoted so beautifully from Isaiah, so that we might learn to trust him not only with our mind (meditatio), but also in our experience. (Thus John Kleinig’s emphasis on “reception from a Triune God” in spiritual formation is most appropriate.)
I would even suggest that this trilogy of Luther should be taken holistically: There is struggle in prayer and meditation, even as there is prayer and meditation in struggle. Thus the very struggle with sin, which is certainly an all encompassing battle, becomes a work of God within us.
Dan,
Nothing at all there I would disagree with. Looking back on it, though in the midst of it it didn’t “feel” like a blessing, I can well understand what Luther meant when he said the pope made him a better theologian than he would have ever been on his own. Theologian in the non-official office understanding. Likewise, the then torments of Calvin and believers baptism (and all that goes with that) didn’t feel like any good at all, yet it all the more made me see Christ in the Sacraments in a way that I would have never been able to do so otherwise. It “burned up” all false ways if you will so that the Cross alone becomes the shining glory and leaves one cruciformed, nakedly trusting in Christ alone without the support of reason, affection or other experiences. Thus, it becomes a blessing. What men and the devil mean for evil, God means and uses for good becomes very apparent – usually well after the fact looking back upon it. It is a blessing, though it certainly does not feel like a blessing in the midst of the fiery trial bringing one to the despair of one’s self.
Yours,
Larry
Larry,
Well said.
Upon further reflection, I’m not sure that John Kleinig’s use or prayer, meditation, and struggle as a “cycle” is consistent with the framing of spiritual growth as “reception rather than self promotion.”
That phrase, “reception [from God] rather than self promotion,” is brilliant, and it sets things flowing in the proper direction. We do not work in ourselves to become stronger, better, and more piously devoted to God. We receive from God in the here and now and God, through the means of Grace, works in us for good, even as we struggle to pray, struggle to understand, and just plain struggle. That is a wonderfully encouraging perspective.
It almost seems, though, that he undoes this clarity in the second paragraph when he says that the spiritual life, “begins with prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit [and] concentrates on the reception of the Holy Spirit through meditation on God’s Word.” If you were to remove the context of Luther and Mr. (Dr?) Kleinig, I would assume that this was from a reformed author–particularly when the result of this prayer and concentration is “spiritual attack.” It is, to put it bluntly, rather “me focused,” which is odd, considering it is sandwiched between two paragraphs that are very “God focused.”
I am curious to hear his thoughts developed more fully.
Does putting together bulletins for the Christmas season count as tentatio? Just wondering.
Does a children’s program instead of the Divine Service on Sunday count as tentatio?
We could go on and on.
Does one’s family being attacked by
Satan count as tentatio? I believe
it does and also—speaking from
experience—think it is among the
most difficult for a pastor to deal
with. I’d rather that I would suffer
physically than have my children
attacked, but then, it’s not really up
to me!
Of course, as others have said,
it does drive us more and more to God
and His Word.
Yes CRB that counts.
CRB- The translators of Oswald Bayer’s work on Luthers tentatio use the phrase spiritual attack. This does seem to suggest the work of Satan. Does this mean that Satan makes us theologians? Remember the Devil is God’s Devil and everything he does must serve the interests of our LORD. Including the making of theologians.
“Luther, therefore, does not envisage the spiritual life as a process of self-development, but as a process of reception from a triune God.”
That truth changed my entire life a few years ago when I first read it. It was like God completely blew up everything I knew about being a Christian. I’m looking forward to the future posts.
Gregory #15,
Thank you! I only wish the “process” of making us
theologians did not take so long—our whole life!