Martin Luther's Christology

Doxological Christology

The Christological controversy of the sixteenth century (Protestant Reformation) revolved around the altar. This is especially true for Martin Luther, whose Christology was linked to the worship of Christ in the Mass. For Martin Luther, it was a suitable place because here again and again Jesus Christ confronted his church in the presence. Luther's Christology was thoroughly doxological. Luther's Christology serves as the basis for his theology. Faith in Christ was his presiding doctrine, "from it, through it, and into it flow and return day and night all my theological thoughts." Apart from some Christological controversies and the significance of Jesus Christ that appear in his work, Luther did not write an elaborate composition on Christology. For this reason, Ernst Wolf states that it is better to say "Christology with Luther" rather than "Christology of Luther". In any case, it can be concluded that whether it is elaborated or diffused, we find Luther's perception of Jesus Christ, which may be appropriate to say "Luther's Christology".

Christ as Judge and Lawgiver to Christ as Mediator and Savior

Theology could not begin with the divinity of Christ; it had to start with his humanity. This emphasis became the basis of his later Christological development in the polemic about the Eucharistic presence. His early experience with Christ in the Eucharist moved from fear to love. Christ was his mediator and Saviour, not a fearful lawgiver, judge and tyrant. Two main questions became the impetus for Luther's Christological peculiarities.

The first problem was the sacrifice of matter, which prompted him to express his view of the matter the work of Christ. The second concerned the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, which stimulated to perfect his view of the person of Christ.

Holy Mass: Work of Christ

Luther argued that in the Mass, instead of acknowledging Christ's sacrifice, the papists were bringing their own sacrifice when they said the words "we offer, we sacrifice" and "these sacrifices, these gifts". Rather than the Mass being a sacrifice, a good work, and a meritorious activity, Luther demanded that it be seen as a testament and a gift. Two Christological motifs appear in Luther's attack on the Mass. The first drew attention to the correct view of the words of the institution. These words were Christ's last will and testimony. By issuing his new will, he became the testator. The second Christological theme he emphasized was that Christ was our high priest. As our high priest, it was he who atoned for sin through his once-for-all sacrifice on Calvary.

Luther explained that the Council was created to proclaim and glorify Christ, to celebrate his sufferings and all his grace and goodness, so that we can be encouraged to love him, to hope and believe in him... And if there had been no preaching, Christ would never have done it instituted mass. He is more interested in the word than the sign.

For preaching is to be nothing but an explanation of Christ's words, when he instituted the mass and said 'This is my body, this is my blood', etc. Christ collected the whole gospel in a short summary with the words of this law or holiness. Promises of forgiveness and eternal life were made in the will declared by Christ the Testator. Christ, as a testator, bequeathed the inheritance of forgiveness and eternal life to his disciples, saying, 'This is my blood

The new law, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). With these words Christ made a solemn promise of justice and salvation to his heirs, Church.

Luther recognized six distinct aspects of this Eucharistic testament theme. First there is the testator who makes the will, Christ. Secondly, the heirs to whom the will is bequeathed, we Christians. Thirdly, the testament itself, the words of Christ - when he says: 'This is my body, which is given for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you, the new everlasting covenant,' etc. Fourthly, the seal or sign is the sacrament, the bread and wine, under which is his true body and blood. For all that is in this sacrament must be alive. So Christ did not put it in dead scriptures and seals, but in living words and signs, which we use day by day....Fifthly, the blessing signified by these words is here bequeathed, namely, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Sixthly, the duty, remembrance, or requiem, which we are to perform for Christ; that is, we should preach his love and grace, listen to and meditate on it, and thereby be stirred up and sustained to love and hope in him. The sixth aspect of the will is associated with faith. Faith was strengthened in the sacrament, the objective seal of God's forgiveness. Belief in the testament was the means that connected the individual to Christ, the testator. Using the metaphor of a wedding ring in his treatise The Freedom of a Christian (1520), Luther spoke of the joyous exchange between Christ and the sinner. Faith intimately unites the believer with Christ. Faith attaches itself to God's promise and makes what is Christ's now the believer's and what is now the believer's Christ's. Through faith in Christ's new law proclaimed in the Mass, Luther saw the benefit gained by Christ distributed to the church.

An Atoning Sacrifice—Christ our High Priest

In The Misuse of the Mass (1521) Luther stated that "We have but one single priest, Christ, who sacrificed himself for us and all of us with him.' Luther held that Christ, as our High Priest, gives our praise and thanksgiving to the Father in the Mass.

He further says that by sacrificing himself, he took away the sins of all men and effected their sanctification for all eternity. He entered the holy place once and forever with his blood and made salvation eternal [Heb. 9:12, 28; 10:12, 14]. So there remains no other sacrifice for our sins than his, and when we put our trust in it we are saved from sin without any merit or our own works.

Luther admitted the meaning of the sacrifices in the Mass through the priestly work of Christ as an intercessor. Through Christ we offer our offerings of prayer to the Father; we do not offer Christ to the Father, but "Christ offers us." Christ as our high priest "receives our prayer and sacrifice, and through himself, as a pious priest, makes them acceptable to God." The sacrament is not a work that obtains forgiveness for Luther, but it can be said that it is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving achieved through Christ's intercessory sacrifice. Christ's work is not a passive sacrifice repeated on the altar. His high priestly sacrifice was accomplished once for all, and the inheritance obtained by his death was ratified in the New Testament 'for you,' that is, his body and blood. These Christological themes of the testator and the high priest provide insight into Luther's Eucharistic Christology.

 

Eucharistic Christology: Bodily presence in the Mass

According to Luther, when Christ said 'This is my body', he meant what he said. As Davis notes, "For Luther, the whole question of Christ's presence in the Eucharist was driven by his view of the Words of Ordinance as God's Word of power." Davis again emphasizes the importance of the word of promise in realizing Christ's presence in the bread. Luther says that "as soon as Christ says, 'This is my Body,' his body is present through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit." He says that Christ "inserted himself into the Word, and through the Word he also inserts himself into the bread." For Luther , Christ, the Word, resolves the exegetical debate.

The second argument for Christ's bodily presence was linked to the idea that Christ he currently sits "at the right hand of God." Luther shows that "God's right hand" is "not a golden throne, but God's omnipotent power that cannot or should be omnipresent." something strange happened to Luther.

Christ's resurrection body was manifested in its ability to pass through doors.

The Body of Christ took on new characteristics that it did not have before resurrection. This new body became the basis of how Luther understands communicatio idiomatum. The resurrected body of Christ now he participates in the omnipresence of God, and thus can be present to the church multiple times ways.

In his Confession on Christ's Supper (1528) he describes the relationship between the two natures of Christ as follows: Our faith affirms that Christ is God and man, and both natures are one person, so that this person cannot be divided into two; so it certainly can to appear in a corporeal, circumscribed manner in any place he pleases he did after the resurrection and will do on the last day. But above and beyond this mode can also use a second, unlimited mode, as we have proven from the gospel he made at the tomb and the closed door.

But now, because he is a man who is supernaturally one person with God and separate this man is not God, it must follow that according to the third supernatural mode, he is and can be everywhere where God is and what everything is full of Christ through and through, even according to his humanity—not according to that first the carnal, limited way, but according to the supernatural divine mode. Because Christ tells us that He is present through His Word in the bread and wine the doctrine of omnipresence becomes a necessary option against those who say that Christ cannot to be present. For Luther, the Word is always a priority. Similarly, if communicatio idiomatum in Luther's thought may seem to deify human nature, it also seems to dehumanize divine nature. communicatio idiomatum goes both ways.

My faith clings not only to the Son of God or His divinity, but also to Him who is called the Son of Mary; for they are identical. I dare not separate one from the other and say that humanity is useless, only divinity. Christ's humanity could not be discarded for his divinity. For Luther, it was in the humanity of Christ that people could benefit from his person and work. Without Christ's humanity there was no salvation. It was essential for Luther to show that the humanity of Christ was not available only inbread and wine, but also wholesome. Luther believed that the forgiveness obtained by Christ's sacrifice on the cross was dispensed in the sacrament. In the sacrament, Christ distributed the benefit of his sacrifice through his covenant attached to the bread and wine.

Luther outlines three benefits of the presence of Christ's humanity in the bread and wine. The first use in the bread and wine is that it makes the proud blind and shows the worldly reason for folly. The second benefit of the real presence is the bodily benefit, in which "our body is nourished by the body of Christ, that our faith and hope may continue, So our bodies will live forever on the same food that lives forever in the body of Christ. "The body of Jesus was burned by him... when we ate it, he remains in us and we in him. For it is neither consumed nor changed, but is continually transforming us, our soul into righteousness, our body into immortality.” The third benefit is the “forgiveness of sins,” because in it is the mighty Word of God. Because the Word says that the bread and wine are the body and blood and that they are given for our forgiveness of sins, it is so. For Luther, at the supper we meet Christ, fully and undivided. At the altar, 'One either loses Christ completely or has Him completely'.