Still more from Carl Trueman’s article Luther’s Theology of the Cross:
Luther does not restrict the theology of the cross to an objective revelation of God. He also sees it as the key to understanding Christian ethics and experience. Foundational to both is the role of faith: to the eyes of unbelief, the cross is nonsense; it is what it seems to be—the crushing, filthy death of a man cursed by God. That is how the unbelieving mind interprets the cross—foolishness to Greeks and an offence to Jews, depending on whether your chosen sin is intellectual arrogance or moral self-righteousness. To the eyes opened by faith, however, the cross is seen as it really is. God is revealed in the hiddenness of the external form. And faith is understood to be a gift of God, not a power inherent in the human mind itself.
This principle of faith then allows the believer to understand how he or she is to behave. United to Christ, the great king and priest, the believer too is both a king and a priest. But these offices are not excuses for lording it over others. In fact, kingship and priesthood are to be enacted in the believer as they are in Christ—through suffering and self-sacrifice in the service of others. The believer is king of everything by being a servant of everyone; the believer is completely free by being subject to all. As Christ demonstrated his kingship and power by death on the cross, so the believer does so by giving himself or herself unconditionally to the aid of others. We are to be, as Luther puts it, little Christs to our neighbors, for in so doing we find our true identity as children of God.
This argument is explosive, giving a whole new understanding of Christian authority. Elders, for example, are not to be those renowned for throwing their weight around, for badgering others, and for using their position or wealth or credentials to enforce their own opinions. No, the truly Christian elder is the one who devotes his whole life to the painful, inconvenient, and humiliating service of others, for in so doing he demonstrates Christlike authority, the kind of authority that Christ himself demonstrated throughout his incarnate life and supremely on the cross at Calvary.
Prof. Trueman is Presbyterian, so he talks about “elders,” but what he says and what Luther says about being “little Christs to our neighbors” (from The Freedom of the Christian) is at the essence of the doctrine of vocation. It speaks to a Christian’s exercise of authority in all of the estates: in the church (pastors); in the state (rulers, citizens); and in the household (marriage, parenthood, the workplace).
Thus, we can say that husbands do indeed have authority over their wives; but the Christian husband should use that authority in self-denying, cross-bearing service to her. The same holds true for the authority of parents over their children, bosses over their employees, and lawful rulers over their charges. This rules out every kind of tyranny and self-serving imposition of power.
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A funny thing happens during my pre-marital catechesis. When I first begin to speak about headship and submission, the prospective groom is all ears and the prospective bride looks a little peeved. By the time I’m finished, the prospective groom has changed his tune a little and the prospective bride is eating it all up. Cruciform authority isn’t too attractive to the old adam.
Thank you for running this edifying series. Great stuff.
You chock this up to his being Presbyterian, but I thought that Prof. Trueman was simply alluding to 1 Peter 5:1-5 — “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
In any case, “Amen!” to your comments as well.
Paradoxically, suffering servants develop great power. Jackson Bate in his course at Harvard on the Age of Johnson and in a superb biography argued that Johnson suffered greatly in his life and was at base a humble man. Though a very strong president, Lincoln was an essentially humble man and a suffering servant of his nation. Whether this quality is inherent or achieved is a good question. Probably both. Western civilization at its best has been profoundly influenced by the Cross.
A great person who understood the theology of the Cross is Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, a former devout Lutheran, who died today at about 10:00 AM. In his profound book, Death on a Friday Afternoon, he wrote the following:
When I come before the judgment throne, I will plead the promise of God in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I will not plead any work that I have done, although I will thank God that he has enabled me to do some good. I will plead no merits other than the merits of Christ, knowing that the merits of Mary and the saints are all from him; and for their company, their example, and their prayers throughout my earthly life I will give everlasting thanks. I will not plead that I had faith, for sometimes I was unsure of my faith, and in any event that would be to turn faith into a meritorious work of my own. I will not plead that I held the correct understanding of “justification by faith alone,” although I will thank God that he led me to know ever more fully the great truth that much misunderstood formulation was intended to protect. Whatever little growth in holiness I have experienced, whatever strength I have received from the company of the saints, whatever understanding I have attained of God and his ways—these and all other gifts I have received I will bring gratefully to the throne. But in seeking entry to that heavenly kingdom, I will, with Dysmas, look to Christ and Christ alone.
Then I hope to hear him say, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” as I hope with all my being—because, although looking to him alone, I am not alone—he will say to all.
Recquisat in Pace, Fr.Neuhaus
Say, could someone please point me to some places where I can further explore this notion? — “the Christian husband should use that authority in self-denying, cross-bearing service to her. The same holds true for the authority of parents over their children, bosses over their employees, and lawful rulers over their charges. This rules out every kind of tyranny and self-serving imposition of power.”
Cattus P., Its in Ephesians. And it is very clearly laid out there that the husband’s role in marriage is to serve his wife as Christ has served the church by giving himself up for her. Submission takes on a whole new meaning under that sort of authority!
Cattus, start with this: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
Christ “gave himself up” for the church, of course, by sacrificing Himself on the Cross for us.
In the further discussion of the various vocations that follow through chapter 6 (husbands & wives; parents & children; masters & servants), we see in each one that Christ is, in some way, in that vocation, and that we are to respond accordingly.
Another important passage is in Christ’s teaching about authority: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).
Again, Jesus and His service to us on the Cross is the model, as opposed to “lording it over” those we have authority over.
If Joshua were to stand up today & declare “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” in most homes, even a good many/most “Christian” ones, he’d be either opposed, ignored or laughed to scorn.
The cultural forces at work in America today, especially feminism, have created a situation where people who have legitimate authority cannot exercise it because those under them will not recognize that there IS a hierarchy and that they have an obligation to respond properly to legitimate authority. Anything that thwarts what they want to do or requires that they obey rules given to them is wrongly interpreted as tyranny or a self-serving imposition of power.
“You’re not the boss of me now!!” is the motto of America’s wives and children today.
And yet the sort of authority that we have been talking about here can and does easily subvert our human struggles for power. Perhaps, Manxman, Christian men like you and I should actively seek to serve those affected by feminism in our culture in all sort of situations. You know hold the door open, and say “thank you, maam”, and get them their coffee in the morning, and buy them a glass of wine in the evening. In my experience even feminists appreciate those relics of courteous treatment – and then they feel very dirty about being served.
But everyone needs the service of the only Savior.
#8 Manxman
Consider that Jesus only rarely acted like a “jeremiah”, righteously serving up his righteous opinion to others.
The life of Jesus up to his public ministry at age 30 was UTTERLY UNREMARKABLE. so much so that his small town neighbors were incredulous when they asked: “isnt that Jesus the carpenter´s son??!!” Jesus had to always be pointed out in a crowd.
I don´t know about you Manxman, but I would have truly expected the coming of God-made-flesh to look more like the penticostal version of the second coming where God shows up with his army of angels ready to whup some major demon ass with power and might.
I would NEVER have expected God to show up as a baby who could not control his own bladder, feed himself or speak a single word. Who needed to grow and learn. who probably forgot his prayer shawl at times or his “ABCs” like any normal boy and so had to in humility accept the constraints of being fully human and not some superman from the planet krypton.
Jesus whole life was a study in humility. Our christian God is the ONLY God I am aware of that his followers can (and must!) call “humble”. Muslims have red foreheads 6 times a day. their god is anything but humble.
So it goes way beyond merely being “servile”. But Manxman, God is calling you to live out the meaning of “servile” in every leadership role that he has placed you in.
How would that look in your relationship with your wife? your children?