When one examines a theologian or a system of theology, one will usually find one driving thought or perhaps just a few driving thoughts that form the core of the theologian or the system of theology being examined. While some think of Luther as being focused on justification by faith alone, there are reasons to think that Luther had something even deeper driving him. If the author of the quote below (Philip Watson) is correct, then what drove Luther to the Gospel that had justification by faith alone at its core was a driving theocentricity or perhaps an insatiable appetite for soli deo glory (to God alone be the glory). The core of true Christianity is at precisely this point and the core of false theology is its exact opposite. It is true that various theologies differ in many ways, but the heart of all false theology regardless of its external adherence to a creed is that of man-centeredness. What is needed today is not just better creeds or men returning to Reformed theology, but men returning to the heart of true Reformed theology which is to be centered upon God and His glory in all things and in all ways.
“In Luther, the theocentricity of primitive Christianity returns; and it is the determining factor of His whole outlook. His opposition to Catholicism is due ultimately to nothing else but this. In the Catholic conception of Christianity, it is in the last analysis man who occupies the centre of the religious stage; in Luther’s reforming conception it is God. Luther seeks to eradicate every vestige of the egocentric or anthropocentric tendency from the religious relationship. There is no place for the slightest degree of human self-assertion in the presence of God. Here, man must be content to receive undeserved the gifts God wills to bestow on him, and to obey without thought of reward the commandments God pleases to give him. In other words, he must let God really be God, the center around which his whole existence moves. This theocentric emphasis can be described as the fundamental motif of Luther’s entire thought.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)
In the modern day Christianity is virtually unabashed in its man-centeredness. God is thought to be good only if He is centered upon man and is more concerned to make man comfortable than with His own glory. God is sought in order to make men healthy, wealthy, and wise. God is said to save men from hell because He cannot bear to see them suffer. Men set up meaning that they find in the sacraments and in the activities of the church from man-centeredness rather than that from a thorough and exhaustive pursuit of the glory of God. The God of the Bible forgives sins in order to be just and to justify sinners. This is a God that saves sinners in order to manifest the glory of His own name. This is a God that those who love Him pray and cry out this: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth” (Psa 115:1). The kind of God that we are to proclaim is the God who “is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Psa 115:3). The God who created all things created for His own glory and pleasure. “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created” (Rev 4:11). The command of Scripture is for men to do all things for His glory (I Cor 10:31). We can deduce that since all things were made for His glory all things are to be used in a way that manifests His glory.
The determining factor in Scripture does seem to be of the God of all glory who does all things to manifest His glory. Luther discovered the God-centeredness of Scripture and from that the doctrines of the Reformation boomed forth from his pen and his mouth. We have not discovered the God of Luther or his understanding of the Gospel until we have discovered in our hearts the God-centeredness of God and therefore of all things. It is only when we begin to grasp the true nature of all things that we can begin to understand the nature of pride. The heart of man was created to love God and do all things out of love for God, yet man has loved himself and uses all things for himself. Humanity has become so man-centered that its conscience is seared as with a hot iron and thinks that humanism and man-centeredness is what Christianity is all about. Instead of that, its teaching is from the pit of hell. How utterly wicked it is for man in his pride to do what is called worship when it is based on what man wants. How utterly vile is the pride of man to think that God would save sinners for some other reason than the glory of His own name. How utterly despicable it is to measure the love of God by what He has done for human beings. Man has simply done what his father the devil has done. He has sought himself rather than God. He has turned it all upside down and now tries to be as God in seeking self from his own wisdom.
God Loves... Himself 
August 13, 2009 at 3:55 pm |
But to die and go to Heaven now that I have been born again, I don’t suppose there is anything as powerful or wonderful to read than that by Richard Smith, today?