It is also taught among us...

In looking back over the Augsburg Confession of faith recently this phrase, "It is also taught among us," stuck out to me in particular. Each article of faith follows the one before with this phrase and then goes on to expound on subjects such as:

Original Sin: "It is also taught among us that since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of nature are conceived and born in sin."

Justification: "It is also taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before god by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ' s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is for given and righteousness and eternal life are given to us."

Repentance: "It is also taught among us that those who sin after Baptism receive forgiveness of sin whenever they come to repentance, and absolution should not be denied them by the church."

Freedom of the Will: "It is taught among us that...without grace, help, and activity of the Holy Spirit man is not capable of making himself acceptable to God, of fearing God and believing in God with his whole hear, or of expelling inborn evil lusts from his heart."

The princes of Germany presenting this confession to Charles V did not use this phrase flippantly. These were men whose subjects were searching after clear direction from the Word of God. Clearly defined teachings were going to be vital for the fledgling Lutheran church if it was to sustain the reforms that had to this point so desperately been seeking. Clear and correct doctrine was for these men not a peripheral issue but a matter of life and death as they presented their teachings to a Catholic sovereign ready to force them to submit even by means of the sword. If a proper understanding of salvation by grace through faith was not taught, correct implementation of the sacraments not observed, or true knowledge of repentance not grasped by the church community, then they would be risking their lives for nothing.

If only such fervor for the teaching of the Scriptures were to be found in the Church of our own day! Far less often than hearing about what a particular church teaches or what beliefs they hold to, we hear about the particular activities or social groups that they can offer. Instead of hearing about Christ crucified for sinners we hear about services and conviences offered to "seekers."

What is to be done about this woeful lack of proper instruction in the knowledge of the Triune God and the Word he has delivered to his people? If every Evangelical church on the continent started offering courses in the basic doctrine of their particular tradition and encouraged each member to delve into these subjects for themselves would the problem be solved? While these would certainly be steps in the right direction and are a necessities for any church, there must certainly be more to this kind of a transformation than simply offering the right courses or reading good books. What must precede these things is a true hunger for God. This type of desperate longing to have communion with the God of the Bible cannot be produced by simply understanding Him correctly. This sort of work can only be accomplished by a radical work of His Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The saints at the time of the Reformation experienced this kind of revival. They sought after proper teachings of the work of Christ because they had been robbed of hope by doctrines that made this work to be less than efficient for the people of God.

So, how is it that we will see a hunger for the pure teachings of the Word restored in the Church during our day? It will be through a powerful work of the Holy Ghost as He works upon the heart of every believer. As this work takes place, careful exposition of the Word will be experienced in greater amount through out the Church, and the glory for this marvelous work will be attributed to the power of God alone.