Lutheran Exceptionalism?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV)

This Sunday I will be teaching an adult Sunday school on the topic of the "Means of Grace," as we Lutherans fondly refer to God's Word and our Sacraments (forms of the "visible Word"-- Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Confession/Absolution)... Most confirmed Lutherans take much of what goes on in church life for granted; so much can seem to be rote, yet, if asked about what is meant by means of grace, I suspect the answers might vary. The phrase means of grace is not found in Scripture, but came out of the Protestant Reformation and remains wonderfully Lutheran in our understanding of how God comes to us (rather than the other way around). 

I came across a very interesting blog post by Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller from November 2014, blatantly entitled “Lutheran Exceptionalism,” that addresses this very issue of the External Word. At the risk of being accused of poaching another brother’s work, I offer up this excerpt (simple because I like it—and I really like the rhetorical, perhaps, question at the end): 

Here is a simple question: What do Lutherans believe and confess that no one else does? Lutherans have a unique history, unique texts, unique songs, but what is theologically unique about Lutheran teaching?

The answer is simple, but with profound implications. Lutherans are the only ones who teach that the Holy Spirit works exclusively through the external Word of God and sacraments to create and sustain faith and give salvation. Lutherans believe this. No one else does. This Lutheran uniqueness has deep significance…

We've made the claim that only the Lutheran Church teaches that the Holy Spirit works through the external Word and sacraments. Is that true? A simple survey of Christian theology will establish the fact.

Most Protestants (including American Evangelicals, Baptists, etc.) have abandoned the sacraments and replaced them with symbolic ordinances. The Scriptures (in revivalistic fashion) are simply information that needs to be acted upon by our free will.

The Reformed (our closest theological relative) has inherited from Calvin the distinction between the external word and the internal call. They understand the sacraments as “spiritual,” whatever that means.

The Roman church places the authority of the church over (or at least on par with, which means over) the Scriptures. The sacraments are not the means of pardon or forgiveness, but means through which the church dispenses God's meritorious-good-work-empowering grace.

And that basically covers them all. There is not a single church out there that understands the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace.

Could a Lutheran, then, go and ask his Baptist friend for advice on church?

Luther understood from Scripture about the external Word that no one receives the Holy Spirit or Grace except through it (an excerpt from the Smalcald Articles, Article III, Part 8):

In these matters, which concern the spoken, external Word, it must be firmly maintained that God gives no one his Spirit or grace apart from the external Word which goes before. We say this to protect ourselves from the enthusiasts, that is, the "spirits," who boast that they have the Spirit apart from and before contact with the Word. On this basis, they judge, interpret, and twist the Scripture or oral Word according to their pleasure.

We teach and believe that faith is created by the external Word, that is, those Means of Grace that are the Word of the Gospel in every form in which it is brought to man (written/spoken, Baptism, Lord’s Supper, and Confession).  We must experience God externally (to receive the gracious gift of faith in Christ’s work alone through which we are justified by Him) before He can work through us internally (sanctification with the help of the Holy Spirit within). 

Some might try to make the case that our teaching that the Holy Spirit works exclusively through the external Word of God and Sacraments to create and sustain faith and give salvation makes Lutheran Christianity a "religion of externals" and denies the experience of God in the life of the Christian. To this I would offer an apology (pun, perhaps, intended)... First, I would point to Paul’s lashing out in chapter 3 of his Epistle to the Galatian Church, propped up by Romans 10:17 (“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”); then, the cherry atop the sundae would be Luther’s last two sentences in the closing paragraph of Part 8 in Article III of the Smalcald Articles that refer to 2 Peter 1:21: “However, without the external Word, [Moses, Elijah, Elisha, et al] were not holy—much less would the Holy Spirit have moved them to speak while they were still unholy. Peter says they were holy because the Holy Spirit speaks through them.”

I would argue back (nicely, of course) that, yes, the world around us seems to keep God at bay for those cannot recognize Him in their lives (and He most assuredly is there,). The Gospel of Christ Crucified (the “external Word” in all forms) is the means (of Grace!) by which God becomes (through faith) incredibly visible in the life of a Christian and things begin to change… 

Looking forward to Sunday!