Even though God is ‘preached’ and the preached God is the revealed God, whose grace and mystery is proclaimed by bold and audacious preachers, God still works beyond and despite our words about God. He essentially posits a doctrine of double predestination and maintains that the condemned suffer their fate in accordance with God's inscrutable will. Even the triumph of the Jews leads to “the fear of the Jews” (8:17) and “the fear of Mordecai” (9:3), but there is no mention of the fear of the Lord. The Hidden God vs The Revealed God In Reformed and Lutheran Theologies One of the biggest concerns that moved me from Geneva to Wittenberg theologically and practically was the relationship between what Dr. Luther calls “the hidden god” and “the Revealed God.” Change ). Luther's concept of deus absconditus, humankind's common experience of "God-hidden" -- in contrast to deus revelatus, "God-revealed-in-Christ" -- is a fundamental resource for Lutheran mission theology and practice. In The Bondage of the Will, Luther has made the well-known distinction between the Hidden and Revealed God. For one must debate either about the hidden God or about the revealed God [ie, God as we know Him through Christ, a God of mercy]. In His Incarnation, the revealed God meets the devil as the hidden God. And it’s true: God does have a secret will for your life. Kierkegaard’s interpretation drives readers toward the abyss and leaves them hovering there, on the cusp of faith active in love. As was pointed out in the recent ISI broadcast, Luther's paradox of the hidden / revealed God sheds much light on … October 25, 2017 October 25, 2017 Robert C. Baker Leave a comment. Gospel–the Revealed God in Christ–is *always* God’s final Word, and always His highest authority. They stand on the firm ground of Christological principle, where they find God's unity. The proper place for this concealment of God - which takes place for the sake of the revelation, indeed is revelation in precisely… Luther’s ideas are deeply rooted in paradox. The tension between God’s hidden and revealed presence within the narrative of Esther is typified by the entrance of the story’s Jewish heroes in 2:5–7, an entrance that both reveals and hides their Jewishness. In fact, during his day, since this was so, Christ was still looked at as terrifying, so people would look more to the Virgin Mary than to Christ, because the Virgin Mary, as a kind mother, would pacify the “terrors of Christ” and make Him more gentle by persuasion. Under Lutheranism, since Lutheranism affirms universal grace and does not concern itself with God’s decrees, but simply allows for this Scriptural tension and paradox to nonetheless remain, we can rejoice in the *difference* between the hidden god and the Revealed God. Worshipping the hidden God is basically a funeral with cake! … This God is indeed for you! 1 0 obj
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THE HIDDEN GOD VS THE REVEALED GOD IN LUTHERANISM. (45:15). For Luther, the scriptures clearly reveal God and say very little about the hidden God. We can understand the meaning of Christ’s being forsaken by God only if we fully accept the central Scripture truth of Christ’s substitution for us. B. Luther’s theology II. To concern ourselves with the decrees–in *any* way–is spiritually dangerous. Sinai to smoke, so much so that if even an animal touches it, it is toast. Dionysius the Areopagite’s Mystical Theology provides background for Luther’s hidden God. Because of this, the Cross becomes the place in history where Christ merely manifests God’s election, and therefore Reformed theology has the doctrine of limited atonement. Although we preach both law and Gospel, the Gospel is *always* God’s highest Word. Luther says that when the heavens declare God’s glory, “the apostles preach only about the righteousness which God works in us, not at all about the righteousness which men can produce” (LW 14:200). Sometimes God hides his face (Psalm 13:1, 88:15). It has been asserted that there is no central doctrine in Calvinism by many Calvinists, but with its starting point being the covenant of redemption, which therefore starts with the eternal decrees and the glory of God, and thus manifesting election through limited atonement, the focus cannot avoid being stuck on God’s decrees and His sovereignty and therefore His glory. This is very much the same thing as focusing on the hidden god. The revealed yet hidden God found, most distinctively, in the incarnation and at the cross of Christ. Faith trusted the revealed God's promises despite knowing that … 27:46.) ( Log Out / We dare not seek God in His unsearchable judgments. As it says in Deuteronomy 29:29, there are “The secret things [that] belong to the Lord”—this is what theologians are referring to when they talk about the hidden will of God. Explain Luthers idea of the hidden God behind the loving face of the Father from HIST 205 at Regent University Dr. Luther’s focus on the Revealed God came not from academic reasons, but from his own struggles with assurance that God was indeed gracious toward him. And, if we do not look inward, we are forced to wonder if God is present for us in the Sacraments. Category: Hidden/Revealed God Pieper vs. Forde on God’s wrath. This God is Revealed in Christ for you. The proper place for this concealment of God - which takes place for the sake of the revelation, indeed is revelation in precisely… That wisdom, Luther concludes is seen in the invisible things of God in works as perceived by humanity as completely puffed up, blinded and hardened. revealed God will then not only understand but also have the hidden God. |tK�E����w^�_Q�=j�H�WB3�ćK�R�l�ab��b|�dw��B��4Y��0o��A�q����&���0����;��� Bg3u"�D��Mj��H�Ә���. Sometimes God hides his face (Psalm 13:1, 88:15). [34] For Luther, it is true that there are aspects of the hidden God that people cannot understand, but this does not mean that the hidden God is of no concern to the believer. There are two implications for pastors that can be drawn from this sense of hiddenness in Luther’s theology. One of the most explicit teachings of the hiddenness of God is found in the context of Luther’s refutation of Erasmus. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. To look for God in any place where He has not promised to be is to look to the hidden god and is spiritually dangerous. The God who hides himself and the God who reveals himself is one and the same. In the last post I discussed how Luther wanted us to relate ourselves to God as He is hidden and revealed. In Lutheranism, the hidden god remains hidden, and we do not concern ourselves with Him, lest we perish in our sins. Contemporary debate – universalism B. Luther’s theology II. In this post, we will examine the relationship, but before we do so, let us define what exactly Luther means when he discusses “the hidden god” and “the Revealed God.”. Always his highest authority God while reason can only establish a dualism the manger ’. Psalm 13:1, 88:15 ) for a number of reasons toward the abyss and leaves them hovering there, the... 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