“What shall we Christians do,” asks the great Reformer Martin Luther in his tract, The Jews and their Lies, “with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews?” He then answers his own question, advising believers:
to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians.
Any interpretation of Romans 9 through 11 must take into account statements such as that.
Paul takes a different approach: Firmly convinced of Israel’s mistake in rejecting her messiah, he doubles-down with an offer so daring he must submit three affidavits as to its accuracy. He invokes the name of Christ, his own integrity, and the Third Person of the Trinity, then describes a love so deep that he would trade places in Hell with his kinsmen if that would open their eyes. So outrageous is Paul’s dare that the grammar of this sentence trembles on the brink of actuality and never quite makes the leap.
When Rob Bell wanted to spring Gandhi from Hell without benefit of conversion, plenty of Christians were furious at Bell, but how many were truly heartbroken over Gandhi? Our preaching must never set the thermostat of Hell hotter than the temperature of the tears we weep for the unsaved.
Mourning Luther’s anti-Semitism, biographer Martin Marty laments that “one could wish that Luther had died before ever this tract was written.” Perhaps charity demands that we remember the crusty old theologian for a better passage, one that more accurately depicts his understanding of the Gospel. In the canticle On the Freedom of the Christian Man Luther declares,
I must even take to myself the sins of others as Christ took mine to
himself. Thus we see that the Christian man lives not to himself but to
Christ and his neighbor through love. By faith he rises above himself to
God and from God goes below himself in love and remains always in God
and in love.
What matters most about Hell is not who is and who is not going there, but the depth of our passion to prevent it from happening. What proves our orthodoxy is not our insistence on eternal damnation, but our persistence in proclaiming eternal salvation. What proves that Christ is the only way is not our readiness to condemn, but our readiness to accept condemnation if that would show anyone the way to be saved.
Hier Stehe Ich
Doug
Collect
Heavenly Father, Your great love sent Your Son to bear the condemnation that our sin deserved. Grant to us such Christ-like hearts that we would rather be condemned than see our brothers condemned, rather face rejection than see our sisters rejected, rather endure wrath than see our brothers face the wrath to come, that when the love of Christ so conquers us it might conquer those we love. This we ask in the name of the One who became sin on our behalf, Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, together with You, Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever, Amen.
Benediction
May you love so truly
That your love speaks no lies.
May you love so deeply
That your love spares no pains.
May you love so faithfully
That your love sees no hope
Apart from salvation in Christ the Son,
Together with the Father
And the Holy Spirit,
One God, Now and Forever,
Amen.
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