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from the district pastor ...

Rev. Mark Jamison

The confessional crisis in America has brought about a crisis in theological education–where can confessional Lutheran pastors be educated and trained? Misinformation and a lack of theological integrity at the ELCA seminaries has created a serious problem for our churches.

At the 2002 convention of the Augsburg Lutheran District in Springfield, OR, our members unanimously approved Dr. Oliver K. Olson's general concept of starting a House of Studies for confessional Lutherans. I was authorized to work on a preliminary feasibility study with Rev. Steward of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium of North America (ELCM). Our primary goal was to find a way to educate and train pastors for our churches and establish an accredited "House of Studies" that could grant them a degree.

Upon the recommendation of Dr. Olson, I met with Rev. Gerald Nerenhausen, senior pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Oshkosh, WI. His experience in helping churches to use their real estate properties for service (nursing homes and assisted living) to fund their ministries has been very helpful in the initial stages of our dreaming and planning. He has looked at some possible locations in the Chicago area, and met several times with Dr. James Galezewski of the ELCM. Dr. Galezewski is the ELCM's counterpart on the House of Studies task force. We are meeting January 7-8, 2003, at the Chicago Theological Seminary for further discussion and planning.

Mike Williams, Paul Hansen, and I have also met with pastors from the Heartland District to discuss ways in which we might mentor and train pastors locally. We began with a joint meeting of the Heartland and Augsburg districts at Lutheran Church of the Master (Omaha, NE) on May 11, 2002. A joint ministry committee was created with members from each district. Kip Tyler planned a pastors retreat near Omaha, NE, in September, and I hosted a joint ministry meeting at Hope Lutheran in Sioux Falls, SD, on November 4, 2002. Several members of Lutheran Church of the Master have been busy holding "WordAlone Nebraska!" meetings this fall, and in making plans for constituting their new Heartland District. We hope to have more discussions with them next year about "the ministry" and find ways that we might work together to mentor seminarians, and educate and train new pastors.

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THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION: Original Sin 
Mark Jamison

The second article of the Augsburg Confession is entitled Original Sin. It defines sin in three ways: 1) we are born without an ability to have true faith in God; 2) without true fear of God or acknowledging him as Lord of our lives; and 3) we are born with wrongful desires, lusts, and inclinations. Original sin is therefore both what we lack, and our natural wanting and willing. The reformers wanted to make it clear that these things are truly sin and because of them our sinful condition merits eternal death and condemnation for all those who are not reborn by Baptism and the Holy Spirit.

In the second part of the article they condemned the Pelagians, who denied that the state of original sin was actually sin. They believed that since only freely chosen acts of the will were sin, salvation could be earned by human powers, efforts, and strength. The reformers accused the Pelagians of obscuring the mercy and sufficiency of Christ by denying original sin and holding to a false view of human spiritual potential.

In its historical context, Article II also disagreed with much of Roman Catholic theological assumptions about what happened to original sin after Baptism. The medieval theologians known as the Scholastics maintained that Baptism eradicated original sin after baptism or at least weakened it enough so that it did not impair or impede a person's natural spiritual powers. Luther and the reformers vehemently disagreed with Scholasticism because they defined sin in terms of our relationship to God based on Scriptural revelation. The original sin of Adam and Eve was wanting to be their own God and rejecting a dependent and trusting relationship with their creator. The Scholastics on the other hand defined original sin in terms of human nature and its capabilities using categories from the western philosophical tradition instead of Scripture. The reformers knew you can't reason your way to seeing original sin in yourself. That would be like trying to see your eyeball without a mirror. Only Scripture reveals original sin.

For our time we could say original sin is our inability always to want what God wants. If we don't always want what God wants, we don't trust his will. We don't always want to love and forgive our enemies or those who have hurt us. We want our own will done instead of God's. Sometimes we also don't love God for God's sake alone, but only for how God can benefit us. People then make bargains with God. Or we sometimes don't trust in God's mercy and think we have to be committed and devoted enough for God to truly love us. Any form of self-centeredness even in our religious striving is a sign of original sin. It is the life long power of unbelief in us. That is also true for those wrongful desires that we don't choose. When I wake up at 7:00 in the morning, I don't choose to get mad at a coworker at 4:00 p.m. and want to punch that person's lights out. If I get mad at 4:00 p.m., then a sinful desire has come upon me, and the language of free choice of the will does not accurately describe the situation. If I could help it, I would just as soon not ever feel vengeful desires because they consume too much emotional energy and rarely if ever leave a person feeling content or satisfied. I don't ask for those kinds of desires or pray to have them. But even though I can't help having them, Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount they are still sin in the eyes of God. Hate, lust, the desire to hurt or kill, even if they are only in the heart and never acted out are still sin. Good, healthy parents don't teach and coach their two-year olds to knock down other kids, take their toys, and say "Mine." Their children are born sinners. Their parents have to teach them to restrain those sinful impulses. Original sin and not our wrongful actions are the bondage to sin we confess in the Brief Order of Public Confession and Absolution. That is why the final proof of original sin is that God has us go to our graves, and then on the last day raises us from the dead as sinless new beings. We don't go to our deaths because we have committed murder, arson, theft, terrorism, or any other acts of treachery. People in the pews don't do those things. No, we die because death is the final release from original sin.

The spirit of Pelagianism and Scholasticism though is still in force. Whether they realize it or not, those advocating the blessing of same sex couples and ordination of non-celibate gay clergy are using Pelagian arguments. Turn on religious programs on TV and sooner or later you will hear someone say that it is our response to God that causes our salvation, not the efficacy of Christ's atoning death. People are being asked to trust in their own trust instead of the mercy of God. These are clear symptoms of original sin. Article 2 of the Augsburg Confession tells us of our need for a Savior. Article 3 speaks of the Savior we need. We'll talk about that next time.

Rev. Mark G. Jamison is the District Pastor of the Augsburg Lutheran District, and the Senior Pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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