Month: August 2016

The Nature of the Logos

The name Word bestowed upon the Son of God reveals better than any other name the mystery of the inner relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Holy Trinity, God the Father and God the Son. A thought and a word are distinct from each other in that the thought dwells in the mind, whereas the word is the expression of the thought; yet the two are inseparable. The thought does not exist without the word, nor does the word without the thought. A thought is like a word which is concealed within, and a word is that which gives expression to the thought. The thought takes the form of a word to convey the content of the thought to its hearers. Looked at in this way, the thought, being an independent principle, is the father of the word, and the word is the son of the thought. The word cannot exist prior to the thought, yet it does not originate from without; it comes from the thought and remains inseparable from the thought. Similarly, the Father, the supreme and all-encompassing Thought, produced from His bosom the Son, the Word, His first Interpreter and Herald.

St. Dionysius of Alexandria
The Logos, 230-265 A.D.

Assessing an Interpretation of Christ’s Salvation

Does it suggest a change in God or in us?
Does it separate Christ from the Father?
Does it isolate the cross from the Incarnation and Resurrection
Does it suggest Christ just appeals to our feelings — or did He change our situation?

Kallistos Ware
Salvation in Christ

External orders should be chosen carefully

For even though from the viewpoint of faith, the external orders are free and can without scruples be changed by anyone at any time, yet from the viewpoint of love, you are not free to use this liberty, but bound to consider the edification of the common people, as St. Paul says, I Corinthians 14:40, ‘All things should be done to edify,’ and I Corinthians 6:12, ‘All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful,’ and I Corinthians 8:1, ‘Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

…You cannot plead, ‘Externals are free. Here in my own place I am going to do as I please.’ But you are bound to consider the effect of your attitude on others. By faith be free in your conscience toward God, but by love be bound to serve your neighbor’s edification

Martin Luther
The Freedom of a Christian

For Luther, worship style is a balance

Those who devise and ordain universal customs and orders get so wrapped up in them that they make them into dictatorial laws opposed to the freedom of faith. But those who ordain and establish nothing succeed only in creating as many factions as there are heads, to the detriment of that Christian harmony and unity of which St. Paul and St. Peter so frequently write.

Martin Luther
A Christian Exhortation to the Livonians Concerning Public Worship and Concord

All that matters to Luther for the Mass was the Words of Institution and faith

But in all these matters we will want to beware lest we make binding what should be free, or make sinners of those who may do some things differently or omit others. All that matters is that the Words of Institution should be kept intact and that everything should be done by faith. For these rites are supposed to be for Christians…who observe them voluntarily and from the heart, but are free to change them how and when ever they may wish. Therefore, it is not in these matters that anyone should either seek or establish as law some indispensable form by which he might ensnare or harass consciences. Nor do we find any evidence for such an established rite, either in the early fathers or in the primitive church, but only in the Roman church. But even if they had decreed anything in this matter as a law, we would not have to observe it, because these things neither can nor should be bound by laws.

Martin Luther
An Order of Mass and Communion for the Church at Wittenberg

Luther states that Christ does not really care about worship style

I have no intention of cramping anyone’s freedom or of introducing a law that might again lead to superstition. Christ will not care very much about these matters, nor are they worth arguing about.

Martin Luther
An Order of Mass and Communion for the Church at Wittenberg