Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself… (Exodus 19:3-4)
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before[a] me. (Exodus 20:1-2)
There is a large portion of Christianity in the United States that has a theology we refer to as “decision theology.” It is very American – we like to think of ourselves as free to assert our will and make the most important choices for ourselves.
In this school of thought the premise is that God is angry with sinful humanity and God’s wrath is the deserved outcome for each and every one of us. But if we choose to be followers of Jesus, then God’s wrath has already been set forth on Jesus and he has taken our punishment. Deciding to follow Jesus means we get the benefits of his death and God releases us from punishment. People who don’t make this choice are left to their own and sent to hell, often for “perpetual and eternal torment.”
To be clear, this is not our theology! We teach that when the Bible tells us that “God is love” it means it. And as Lutherans, we teach that God always initiates things. God always goes first! And when God says something, it is not conditional on what we say – we don’t get veto power to overrule God. God goes first and God gets the last word.
We see this principle in the verses above from Exodus. God is going to give the people the Ten Commandments. They are being given guidance on the kind of people God is calling them to be and how God intends to use them as a way of being light for all the world. But God’s declaration that God will be their God is a statement of fact – given without condition. And it simply is the way things are.
Martin Luther believed that we had a certain amount of free will as we lived out our lives – we could and should make choices that make a difference in space and time. But he also believed that we have no free will with regard to eternity. That is God’s realm and in eternity we have no voice (we aren’t even able to really fully imagine eternity from our timebound lives). So Luther taught that we simply had to trust God to be God for eternity. In Christ we receive the gift of knowing that what God has done in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ shows us that the God of eternity is willing to join us in time. And that God demonstrates faithfulness by dying, rising and coming among us.
So, as we begin a series on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, remember, in Christ you can relax a bit – let the anxiety drop a notch. For God always goes first and the God of love is always working to bring life and love to you – now and into eternity as well.
