Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Ngien, Dennis. Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015. ***** Begin Content ****** TYNDALE UNIVERSITY 3377 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2M 3S4 TEL: 416.226.6620 www.tyndale.ca Note: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Ngien, Dennis. Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015. [ Citation Page ] FRUIT FOR THE SOUL Luther on the Lament Psalms Dennis Ngien Foreword by Robert Kolb [ Title page a ] Fruit for the Soul [ Title page b ] Fruit for the Soul Luther on the Lament Psalms Dennis Ngien Foreword by Robert Kolb Fortress Press Minneapolis [ Title page c ] FRUIT FOR THE SOUL Luther on the Lament Psalms Copyright © 2015 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440. Cover Image: Käthe Kollwitz, The Parents (Die Ettern) © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn Cover design: Tory Herman Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Print ISBN: 978-1-4514-8521-9 eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-0289-5 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984. Manufactured in the U.S.A. This book was produced using Pressbooks.com, and PDF rendering was done by PrinceXML. [ Title Page verso ] To Alister E. McGrath, in recognition of his erudite Reformation scholarship [ Dedication page ] Contents Acknowledgments .... ix Foreword .... xi Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms .... xvii 1. Psalm 6: Consolation Hidden in its Opposite: Profoundly Terrified but Profoundly Comforted .... 1 2. Psalm 51: No Other Theme but This: Wrapped in the Bosom of God Who Is Grace .... 25 3. Psalm 77: Meditation on All God’s Works: Reaping Justification by Faith as the Fruit .... 85 4. Psalm 90: Moses Being “Most Mosaic”: A Minister of Law, Sin, and Death .... 151 5. Psalm 94: Praying against the Enemies: Negative Capability and Positive Agency .... 199 6. Psalm 118: Soaring above Distress: The Efficacy of God’s Right Hand .... 229 [ Table of Contents page vii ] Conclusion .... 299 Bibliography .... 311 Index of Names .... 333 Index of Subjects .... 337 [ Table of Contents page viii ] Acknowledgments The genius of Luther is his commitment to the biblical text as a means of pastoral encouragement, and as such, his theology is essentially practical. His works diffuse the fragrance of Christ, and his knowledge is profitable for the care of souls. This volume on the psalms of lament shows just that. I am immensely grateful to Robert Kolb, a renowned Luther scholar, not only for writing a stimulating foreword but also for reading the entire manuscript and providing helpful comments on it, which only makes this volume a better production. I am particularly indebted to the reformation scholarship of Alister E. McGrath, to whom this book is dedicated. I am also grateful for Michael Parsons, Ronald K. Rittgers, John Pless, and Neil R. Leroux, whose writings have aided in my understanding of Luther as a theologian in service of the church. Special thanks must be extended to Janet Clark, the senior vice president academic and dean of the seminary, Tyndale University College and Seminary [Tyndale], for so generously granting me a research leave, without which this [ Page ] ix book would not have been completed; to Hugh Rendle and his library team at Tyndale, for assisting me in securing sources, without any hint of complaints; to John Kessler, an erudite Old Testament scholar, my senior colleague at Tyndale whose stellar publications spur me onto new heights; to Brett Potter, my teaching assistant in systematic theology at Tyndale, for typesetting and proofreading the manuscript, which helps rescue me from unnecessary lapses; to my centre leadership team, for supporting me spiritually and financially; and to countless pastors, leaders, and students, whom I have taught and mentored, for challenging me to amplify a close and causal linkage between theology and piety. Last but not least, my deepest gratitude belongs to my wife, Ceceilia, for taking care of the family needs so that I could focus on being an author and for reminding me to be practically relevant while fulfilling the call of a theologian. I pray and trust that this volume will comfort the wounded, prick the smug, refresh the wearied, and sprinkle our hearts anew, as we daily learn to come under the causative nature of the Word of God, including the Psalter. To God be the glory! Dennis Ngien Professor of Systematic Theology Tyndale University College and Seminary, Toronto, Ontario, Canada [ Page ] X Foreword All God’s children really do have troubles. Martin Luther knew that from his own experience. He identified the origin of these troubles and the wickedness behind them in the doubt that broke the relationship between the Creator and his first human creatures. When Eve and Adam doubted the word the Lord had given them, they changed the orientation of their lives and brought disorder, dysfunctions of many kinds, and finally despair into daily human experience. Turning away from God as the first and last conversation partner of the day had introduced turmoil, tribulations of many kinds, and tragedies into the warp and woof of the reality human beings regularly face. In the midst of such trials and troubles, believers often find it difficult to know whether Satan is the enemy or whether God has either become an active adversary or simply abandoned and forgotten them. The testing of tribulation can seem to invite God’s faithful people to return to the doubt of Eden. In such situations, which he often experienced, Martin [ Page ] xi Luther defied the doubt that beset him with the words of 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 ringing through his thinking. God’s ways are indeed not our ways, his thoughts quite different from ours. His wisdom and his power appear to be quite foolish and utterly impotent and his plan for restoring humanity through death on the cross absurd and ineffective. The word that delivers the benefits of Christ’s dying and rising for his chosen people also seems foolish and impotent. But precisely in the death and resurrection of Jesus Luther found the exhibition and the experience of God’s re-creative power as he puts sinners’ identity to death and raises them up to walk as new creatures in Jesus’ footsteps. He formulated his understanding of God’s seemingly strange modus operandi as the “theology of the cross.” This theologia crucis focuses on how Christians are to function as “theologians of the cross” rather than pursuing a theology of glory. Theologians of glory seek in one way or another to establish God’s glory in “Gentile” terms (Mark 10:42—45), and they seek to establish human glory through reason’s mastery of truth and the mastery of good works and godly performance over human destiny. His new identity in Christ gave the Wittenberg professor and preacher a firm sense of who he really was by virtue of the almighty word of deliverance and absolution the gospel of Christ brought to him. Thus, in the midst of trial and testing, he could turn to God on the cross to find an anchor for life and a foundation for a sure hope. Since Job or before, believers have wrestled with the problem of how evil could exist if God is almighty and good, [ Page ] xii as Scripture assures us he is. Since Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz three hundred years ago, we have labeled the search for some justification for God in the face of evil “theodicy.” Luther did not know the term, but he knew the human need. He refused to pursue that problem. In his On Bound Choice he conceded that the question of evil in the world created by the perfect and almighty God had often driven him to despair, and he counseled waiting for the “light of glory” since neither “the light of nature” nor “the light of grace” gave satisfying answers.1 Luther believed Paul was correct when he wrote in Romans 3:25—26 that God has justified himself by justifying his chosen people through Christ’s death and resurrection. Luther identified the Evil One as the cause of all evils. He viewed all of human history as the battlefield on which God and Satan were locked in struggle, God’s truth assured of ultimate victory but Satan’s murderous deceit often seeming to win the battles of daily life (John 8:44). Luther labeled the attacks he experienced in several forms Anfechtungen, “assaults,” for even when they came from God, he felt himself under siege. His confidence that God is almighty led him to recognize God’s lordship even over the devil, so he firmly clung to assurance that God would remain his protecting Father. In the midst of Anfechtungen of various kinds, Luther recognized that he had no answer that would give him 1. Luther’s Works (Saint Louis/Philadelphia: Concordia/Fortress, 1958-1986), 33.190, 291-92; D. Martin Luthers Werke (Weimar: Böhlau, 1883-), 18:719, 9-12, 784, 35-785, 38; cf. Oswald Bayer, Martin Luther’s Theology, a Contemporary Interpretation, translated by Thomas H. Trapp (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 211-13. [ Page ] xiii mastery over the question of the “why” of sin and evil. Therefore, Luther let God be master and simply turned to him in days of trouble, often with the cry of lament. As with so many elements of his theology, the psalmists gave him words to express what he found in his reading of all of Scripture. In sermons, lectures, and devotional works he turned to God with his plaintive cry for the presence of his loving Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. He cried out to God, longing for the comfort that the Lord’s presence gives, even when the foes—the devil, doubt, and disasters in many forms—assail. When no one else is listening, Luther was confident, God is.2 Dennis Ngien has spent years in the careful study of Luther’s writings, exploring particularly the ways in which Luther’s “theology of the cross” guided his exposition of Scripture and his proclamation of its message. Ngien has shown how Luther’s theology developed between the poles of interpretation of the Scriptures and of pastoral care. In the former he experienced hearing God’s voice addressing him and his contemporaries. In the latter he found arrogant sinners in need of the forthright evaluation of God’s condemning law, and he found distressed sinners in need of the consolation of the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection that would give them confidence to cry out to God, also with lament. In this volume Ngien recognizes the penitential nature 2. Cf. Oswald Bayer, “Toward a Theology of Lament,” in Caritas et Reformatio. Essays on Church and Society in Honor of Carter Lindberg, edited by David Whitford (Saint Louis: Concordia, 2002), 211-20. [ Page ] xiv of many laments and builds upon the contrite approach to God of those who trust in Christ and in him recognize the Father’s love. As the Holy Spirit moves the faithful from remorse to reliance on Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of their relationship with their Creator, they gain a sense of sureness that permits them to lay their laments before their God. Ngien’s conversation with Luther continues into Psalm texts that further illuminate the role of lament in the dialogue of human faith with the Faithful One as he explores further dimensions of lament in Luther’s thought and exposition of God’s word. Ngien takes readers of this volume into his exchange with Luther and aids them in finding new and refreshing uses of these cries of agony and dismay from ancient believers and the early modern reformer. For times such as ours, being able to take our woes, weariness, and wailings to our Lord’s lap and leave them there is a gift of his grace that does us immeasurable good. This book will help its readers and their conversation partners to grow in trust in the God who has shared our trials and triumphed over them so that they can cry out with Luther and the psalmists, in the common hope that is theirs through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Robert Kolb Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis Ash Wednesday 2015 [ Page ] XV Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms Aurelius rightly recognizes the significance the Psalms have played in the religious life of the church since its beginning. “No other book of prayers is used so diligently and is so highly Beloved as the Psalter.”1 Wallace claims that “throughout its life the Church has maintained two equally important traditions relating to the psalms. One has to do with the use of Psalms in prayer and song to God. The other concerns the use of the psalms for the instruction and guidance of the faithful.”2 Bayer avows that Luther’s work 1. Carl Alex Aurelius, “Luther on the Psalter,” in Harvesting Martin Luther’s Reflections in Theology, Ethics, and the Church, ed. Timothy J. Wengert (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 226. The English translation of Luther’s works, the American edition, will primarily be used in the presentation. References from Weimar Ausgabe, the original language version, will be cited where helpful. Abbreviations used in this book: LW, for Luther’s Works, 55 volumes, American Editions, eds. Jaroslav Pelikan and Herbert T. Lehman (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House; Philadelphia: Fortress Press), 1955-67. WA, for D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kristische Gesamtausgabe, 100 volumes (Weimar: Hermann Böhlau Nachfolger, 1883-); WA BR, for D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kristische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel; WA TR, for D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kristische Gesamtausgabe. Trischreden. 2. Howard Wallace, Words to God, Words from God (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), 3. [ Page ] xvii was “embedded in the practice of praying the psalms daily,” and that he devoted much of his scholarly energy “in particular to the psalms.”3 Pelikan wrote: “Throughout his career Luther paid very much attention to the Psalter.... His attention to it was personal, devotional, political, exegetical, polemical—all at the same time.”4 With Melanchthon, Luther considered Paul’s epistle to Romans “truly the purest Gospel.”5 However, Luther adored the Psalms more than any other book in the Bible, regarding the Psalter as “a little Bible.” This he wrote in his Preface to the Psalter: The Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book. If for no other reason than this: it promises Christ’s death and resurrection so clearly—and pictures his kingdom and the condition and nature of all Christendom—that it might well be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion or handbook. In fact, I have a notion that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble himself to compile a short Bible and book of examples of all Christendom or all saints, so that anyone who could not read the whole Bible but have here anyway almost an entire summary of it, comprised in one little book.6 The Psalter was written in figurative and metaphorical Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms (New York: Norton, 2007), xiii, says: “Through the ages, Psalms has been the most urgently, personally present of all the books of the Bible in the lives of many readers.” 3. Bayer, Martin Luther’s Theology, xv. 4. Pelikan, Introduction to Volume 14, ix. 5. See “Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans,” in LW 35.365. Also quoted by Timothy George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011), 186, and Bernd Janowski, Arguing with God: Theological Anthropology of the Psalm, trans. Armin Siedlecki (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 341-42. 6. See “Preface to the Psalter,” in LW 35.254. [ Page ] xviii language, evincing an expansive and evocative style that invites people, as Luther said, to “find yourself in it [the Psalter], for it is the true gnothi seauton (‘know thyself) and above all God himself and all his creatures.”7 It has furnished believers in every generation with an invaluable source of prayer and praise, and with models for their own response to God. Luther accentuated: Hence it is that the Psalter is the book of all saints; and everyone, in whatever situation he may be, finds in that situation psalms and words that fit his case, that suit him as if they were put there just for his sake, so that he could not put it better himself, or find or wish for anything better.8 The Psalms are God’s address not only to the people of old but also to the saints in the present. The Psalter is timeless, as it bridges the gap between the past and the present. It is also timely, as it presents us with words that fit particular life situations. In the Psalter, human words that we speak to God, and God’s word, that by which we speak, are woven in an inseparable unity. Luther shows keen interest in human personality of the past and in how their voices offer articulation for his deep-felt emotions. He found the Holy Spirit—given expressions in the Psalms that either resonate with his observations or are the source of his own experience in the course of daily life. His personality comes alive in his existential reading of the Psalms. Unlike the legendary figures of Legenda aurea,9 the 7. LW 35.257. Also quoted by George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers, 188. 8. LW 35.256 (WA DB 10.1.103, 22ff). Also quoted by Aurelius, “Luther on the Psalter,” 226, and George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers, 188. [ Page ] xix medieval collections of stories of the saints, who do not come into conversation with us, the saints of the Old Testament were not “silent saints,” but “real, living, active saints” with whom we continue to have communion and from whom we continue to draw benefits.9 10 In the psalms, Luther discovered not only the works of the saints but also their words—“how they spoke with God and prayed, and still speak and pray.”11 Compared with a speaking man, a silent one is the same as a half-dead man. Luther wrote: “There is no more mightier, no nobler work than speech.”12 Speech, more than any other faculty or capacity, is that which most distinguishes human beings from animals.13 In addition to words, Luther captured in the psalms “a view of the inner heart of the faithful.”14 “Just as I would rather hear what a saint says than see the deeds he does,” Luther said of himself, “so I would far rather see his heart, and the treasure in his soul, than hear his words.”15 The Psalter presents to us “their very hearts and the inmost treasure of their souls,” the very “foundation and source” of their deeds and words.16 It 9. The most popular collection of such legends was probably that of Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298). See LW 35.253, n. 50. The Latin Legenda simply means things that are to be read. In this context, it does not carry its modern meaning. Rather than referring to a story of doubtful historicity, the term simply designates a story designed to be read aloud for instruction. 10. LW 35.255. 11. LW 35.254. 12. LW 35.255 (WA DB 10.1.100). Quoted in H. G. Haile, Luther: An Experiment in Biography (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), 61. 13. LW 35.254. See Birgit Stolt, “Luther’s Faith of ‘the heart’—Experience, Emotion and Reason,” in The Global Luther: The Theologian for Modern Times (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009), 134. 14. WA BR 10.1.98-105 as cited in Herman J. Selderhuis, Calvin's Theology of the Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 21. 15. LW 35.255. 16. LW 35.255. [ Page ] XX enables us to look into the hearts of the faithful, to see what thoughts they possessed, how their hearts were disposed, and how they responded to all the occurrences, exigencies, and necessities of existence.16 17 The legends and examples lay before us in the mighty deeds and miracles of the silent saints. They do not speak; we do not see their inner hearts. The Psalter leads us into the inner heart of the godly, from where their words spring with “double earnestness and life.”18 “And that they speak these [earnest] words to God and with God,” Luther opined, “is the best thing of all,” because “the depths of the heart” are open before God and us.19 20 Luther vividly described this: A human heart is like a ship on a wild sea, driven by the storm winds from the four corners of the world. Here it is struck with fear and worry about impending disorder; there comes grief and sadness because of the present evil. Here breathes a breeze of hope and of anticipated happiness; there blows security and joy in present blessings. These storm winds teach us to speak with earnestness, to open the heart and pour out what lies at the bottom of it. He who is stuck in fear and need speaks of misfortune quite differently from him who floats on joy; and he who floats on joy speaks and sings of joy quite differently from him who is stuck in fear. When a sad man laughs or a glad man weeps, they say, he does not do so from the heart, that is, the depths of the heart are not open, and what is in them does not come out.20 17. See Emil G. Kraeling, The Old Testament since the Reformation (New York: Harper, 1955), 18. 18. LW 35.256. 19. LW 25.256. 20. LW 35.255-56 (WA DB lO.l.lOOff). Also quoted by Timothy J. Wengert, Reading the Bible with Martin Luther (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 14-15. [ Page ] xxi Just as God’s address in ancient times required a personal response, so it is with the contemporary believer, for the psalms are “not words to read, but to live.”21 The Psalter “creates in our minds good sturdy living saints,” from whom we derive a proper discourse with God in the variety of life situations.22 “[T]he greatest thing in the Psalter,” Luther asserted, [is nothing but] this earnest speaking amid these storm winds of every kind[.] Where does one find finer words of joy than in the psalms of praise and thanksgiving? There you look into the hearts of all the saints, as into fair and pleasant gardens, yes, as into heaven itself. There you see what fine and pleasant flowers of the heart spring up from all sorts of fair and happy thoughts toward God, because of his blessings. On the other hand, where do you find deeper, more sorrowful, more pitiful words of sadness than in the psalms of lamentation? There again you look into the heart of all the saints, as into death, yes, as into hell itself. How gloomy and dark it is there, with all kinds of forebodings about the wrath of God!23 Not only can the faithful, then and now, hear God addressing them in the Psalms, but their prayers in the Psalms done in faith also reach the throne of God. “The Psalter is a gem,” for it gives us “the best of their language,” with which we converse with God with great ardency and urgency, and on the most important matters, opening our hearts and pouring out what lies at the bottom of them.24 So too, when speaking of fear and hope, the one praying is able to depict these 21. WA 31,I.63 as quoted in George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers, 188. 22. LW 35.255-56. 23. LW 35.255-56. 24. LW 35.254-55. [ Page ] xxii feelings in such earnest words that no painter could rival, portraying them in a manner that no Cicero or other orator could.25 We do not hear the words of the legendary saints or see their hearts. Instead their deeds are presented and extolled as worthy of imitation. However, imitation of the deeds does not necessarily bear godly fruits. Legendary figures and their examples present works that are beyond one’s ability to imitate or accomplish, in which case despair or hypocrisy are the outcome. They mislead people to seek comfort in the wrong place, namely the works of the silent saints. In extreme cases, the imitation of their works produces dangerous fruits, as it leads to sectarianism and schism, thereby tearing people away from the communion of saints.26 What is lacking in the legendary saints is the words by which people approach God in their diverse circumstances. On the contrary, the Psalter functions as a well-tried and secure guide that the saints of all ages may follow without peril, for it offers us “most abundantly concerning the saints, so that we can be certain of how their hearts were toward God and of the words they spoke to God and every man.”27 So sweet a fragrance are the earnest words by which we call on God, for they emanate from a heart so inclined toward God. For prayers to be efficacious, they have to be done “in faith,” as from the bottom of the heart. Whether we are in joy, fear, hope, or sorrow, we are to think and speak as all the 25. LW 35.256. 26. LW 35.256. 27. LW 35.256. [ Page ] xxiii saints have done. So we are not to think we are praying alone, but the whole of Christendom, all devout saints, is standing there beside us, praying together with us in a common united petition, offering up a sweet fragrance of earnest words to God. This is indeed the fruit of the communion of saints that benefits the soul. Luther wrote: When these words please a man and fit his case, he becomes sure that he is in the communion of saints, and that it has gone with all the saints as it goes with him, since they all sing with him one little song. It is especially so if he can speak these words to God, as they have done; this can only done in faith, for the words [of the saints] have no flavour to a godless man.28 The Hermeneutic Principles of Luther’s Theologia Crucis The hermeneutical principles of Luther’s theology of the cross (theologia crucis) laid down in Heidelberg Disputation in 1518 continue to govern his interpretation of the Psalms.29 These features—the experience of temptation (tentatio), law and gospel, the paradoxical work of God under the appearance of contraries, the distinction between the hidden and the revealed God, Christ’s atoning efficacy for sin, and faith in God’s word rather than human experience or reason—shape his reading of the Psalms. For instance, in his introductory remarks on Psalm 143, Luther spells out the intent of Scripture: “Every psalm, all Scripture, calls to grace, searches for Christ, and praises only God’s work, while 28. LW 35.256. 29. See Robert Kolb, “Luther’s Theology of the Cross Fifteen years after Heidelberg: Lectures on the Psalms of Ascent,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 61, no. 1 (Jan., 2010): 69-85. [ Page ] xxiv rejecting all the works of man.”30 Grace, Christ, and God’s work also form the basic content of the gospel. They are the condition of possibility of hope, when the one under assault by faith lays hold of God’s grace revealed in Christ and praises God’s work. Ultimately these trials (tentatio) draw the psalmist (and us) back to God in meditation (meditatio) and prayer (oratio) so that he rests totally on God’s provision. The triad—struggle, meditation, and prayer—when properly practiced, would lead the sufferers to a deeper apprehension of God’s salvific ways with people in the gospel. The proper usage of God’s Word, with the lament Psalms in view, as a method of comfort is integral to Luther’s pastoral call. It is to this end that this book aims. Lamentation as a Fitting Category for Discourse with God In Lament, Death and Destiny, Richard A. Hughes argues that Luther, believing in divine providence, disdained lamentation, viewing it not only negative but actually blasphemous.31 He has Luther saying that “humans should not complain when afflicted with evil, as in the plague, for example.”32 According to Hughes, “classical theology, from Augustine to Calvin, subordinated the idea of fate to the doctrine of providence, along with its rejection of lament.”33 This study is a corrective to Hughes’s assumption that 30. LW 14.196 (WA 18.522). 31. Richard A. Hughes, Lament, Death and Destiny (New York: Peter Lang, 2004), 113-14. 32. Ibid., 161. 33. Ibid., 119. [ Page ] XXV lamentation, for Luther, is a sin of blasphemy. A more nuanced study of the Psalms proves that the reformer deemed godly lamentation appropriate in times of pain and desolation. Namely, there is a place in theology and liturgy for genuine lamentation that stems from a pure heart, disposed to repose in God’s unfailing love, even at times of desolation and grief. However, one must exercise faith and moderation in the expression of lament, which not only protects the faithful from degenerating into sin and rebellion against God but also enables them to remain godly, “limping, but blessed,” to borrow Moltmann’s salient phrase.34 In Israel lamentation, according to Westermann, is “the chief component of prayers in the Old Testament.”35 Brueggemann speaks of the use of lament psalms as “an act of bold faith, albeit a transformed faith.”36 He mentions two major reasons of such use: first, “the world must be experienced as it really is and not in some pretended way,” and second, because “all such experiences of disorder are a proper subject for discourse with God.”37 This is crucial in relation to Luther’s response to the Psalms. The world in which the people of Wittenberg and the reformer lived was one that increasingly encountered life as disoriented, 34. As description of Jacob’s wrestling with God, Moltmann coins the phrase, “limping but blessed.” See Jurgen Moltmann, The Source of Life. The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Life (London: SCM, 1997), 1. 35. Claus Westermann, Lamentations: Issues and Interpretations, trans. C. Meunchow (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), 94. 36. Walter Brueggemann, The Spirituality of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), 27. 37. Brueggemann, The Spirituality of the Psalms, 27. On lamentation as a viable discourse with God, see David J. Cohen, Why, O Lord? Praying Our Sorrows (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2013). [ Page ] xxvi no different from our world today.38 Luther’s usage of the Psalms is pastorally motivated and is in no way a theoretical undertaking,39 as he sought to inculcate the word in congregants’ lives. Luther’s primary call as a pastor- theologian, deeply committed to the majesty of God’s word and spiritual care of human souls, looms large in his exposition of the Psalter. Lamentation belongs essentially to Luther’s Theologia Crucis. It stands at the heart of Luther’s theological hermeneutic, shaped as it is by a pastoral concern for the soul.40 It is primal to the prayers and worship of the church, then and now. The lament Psalms, in particular, contain anecdotes of God’s people calling God to account because their suffering defied not just rational explanation but also God’s covenantal promises. There is no ready acceptance of their suffering, but protest against the workings of divine providence. Luther parted company with a tradition that readily submits suffering to the fate of divine providence without lamentation. Like the psalmist, Luther engaged with God and laid bare before him. Lamentation is the language of suffering and thus is a fitting category for a discourse with God.41 38. See Peter Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 2000), 1-48. 39. See, for example, Lewis W. Spitz, “Luther Ecclesiast. A Historian’s Angle,” in Seven- Headed Luther, ed. Peter N. Brooks (Oxford: Clarendon, 1983), 117; H. Junghans, “Luther’s Wittenberg,” in Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther, ed. Donald K. McKim (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 25. 40. See Lester Meyer, “A Lack of Laments in the Church’s Use of the Psalter,” Lutheran Quarterly 7 (Spring 1993): 67-78. 41. Claus Westermann, “The Role of the Lament in the Theology of the Old Testament,” Interpretation 28 (1974): 27. [ Page ] xxvii Possessed of a general validity and a timely character, the Psalter penetrates into the innermost being of the one who prays, exposing the heart, thoughts, and emotions. The humanness or earthiness of the psalmist is revealed, characterized by a genuine disclosure of his painful situation, the problem and evangelical concern he has with his enemies, his struggle with God’s providence, his confidence in God, and his earnest plea for God to act. Bold, sometimes vengeful, persistent, and forceful, lamentation reminds God of the promises he made to the faithful and challenges God to account for their afflictions. It also brings into view the paradoxical tension between protest and praise, doubt and trust, fear and hope. Abiding in this paradox is a potent resource for honest and audacious speech to God that tells it as it is. Commenting on Ps. 118:5, “Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free,” Luther offered straightforward pastoral advice but with sensitivity and sensibility: Don’t just sit there by yourself or lie on your belly with your head hanging down and let these thoughts bite into you, and don’t get eaten up worrying over them. Get up, you lazy fellow, and then get down on your knees and hold up your hands to heaven and pray a psalm with the Lord’s Prayer and bring your complaints to God.42 Part of what it means to be “a theologian of the cross” is to “call the thing what it actually is,” wrote Luther in one of his famous theses for the Heidelberg Disputation.43 So a 42. WA 31.1, 96 as quoted in George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers, 170. 43. See “Thesis 21, Heidelberg Disputation, 1518,” in LW 31.53. [ Page ] xxviii theologian of the cross voices the complaints as they actually are and speaks earnestly from the bottom of the heart to God with an unmitigated effrontery, devoid of pretense and avoidance. Above all, only a true theologian of the cross hears God speaking in his affliction, even contrary to his expectations and in God’s apparent absence. The Structure and Substances of a Lament: Movement from Grief to Relief Generally lament Psalms have as many as five basic constituents: address to God in pain, complaint to God, confession of faith, prayer to God, and doxology.44 1. Address to God in affliction 2. Complaint to God about affliction a. Statement of trouble b. Description of enemies c. Complaint against God’s indifference 3. Expression of faith in affliction a. Trust in God’s grace b. Trust in God’s help 44. Westermann, “The Role of the Lament in the Theology of the Old Testament,” 26, where he wrote: “The structure of the psalm of lament is address (and introductory petition), lamentation, a turning to God (confession of trust), petition, vow of praise.” See also L. William Countryman, Conversations with Scripture: The Psalms (New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2012), 67, where he mentions these five distinctive features in lament psalms; Richard P. Belcher, Jr., The Messiah and the Psalms. Preaching Christ from all the Psalms (Ross-shire: Mentor, 2006), 68. [ Page ] xxix 4. Petition to God in affliction a. Imprecation against enemies b. Evangelical concern for his enemies c. Pleas for God’s deliverance 5. Praise of God in affliction a. Pondering God’s mighty works b. Promise of thanks offering or praise c. Gratitude for anticipated help The structure is not meant to be a rigid formula to be followed. Not all of the features appear in every lament Psalm, and they do not occur in the same order. These elements are discernible in Luther’s prayers of lament. Characteristically most lamentations move from frustrations with the actions of God and the psalmist’s enemies toward a statement of confidence that God has heard the complaint and will respond. The assurance of being heard leads to doxology so that many laments culminate in the praise of God. Bayer elaborates: Although the full, uninterrupted praise of God’s goodness, with which we praise God without affliction and temptation, will only happen at the end, the praise of God is nevertheless assumed in some way in every lament. If God could not be praised at all—be it even in tears—then humanity would not able to lament. At least there is no address for its cry of lament. The lament would be without direction or orientation; it would become an aimless and only self-related lamenting and sooner or later fall silent. Lament directed to God is always related to past and future praise.... The present distress is not made [ Page ] XXX insignificant or covered up, but it is taken seriously without becoming the ultimate reality or leading to resignation or cynicism.45 The unity or coincidence of opposites—sorrow and joy, lamentation and praise—embodies the life of the Christian who at various times is under afflictions, the cause of lamentation, and under divine comforts, the reason for praise. The coincidental opposites abide in the Christian life in tensions or as a mixture, sometimes in a confused order, thus making it difficult to discern where the afflicted is emotionally—that is, whether in joy or pain; at other times it is experienced as a distinct movement from one to another, without mixture or confusion. The mixture and movement of these coincidental opposites between sadness and joy, lamentation and praise, for Luther, is a real image of the Christian life: For those who are tempted must at various times be comforted so that they may endure. Therefore joyous Psalms and Psalms of lament are mixed with each other in different order, so that this mixture of various Psalms and this confused order, as one thinks, is an example and image of the Christian life, which is exercised under many afflictions of the world and comforts of God.46 The chief function of a lament is to provide a structure for crisis, pain, grief, or despair, which in turn facilitates a movement “out of the depths”47 from hurt to joy, from 45. Bayer, “Toward a Theology of Lament,” in Caritas Et Reformatio, 218. 46. WA 5.487ff as quoted by Aurelius, “Luther on the Psalter,” 199. 47. Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2000). The phrase “out of the depths” is Anderson’s. [ Page ] xxxi darkness to light, from desperation to hope, from death to life. This movement is not solely psychological or liturgical, although it encompasses those experiences. It too is not a mere physical deliverance from the crisis, although that might be anticipated. The movement from hurt to joy, crisis to faith, grief to relief, is a profoundly spiritual one—a creative and salvific act of God. Luther trusts that God will intervene on his behalf in accordance with divine wisdom and is content when he does not because of his confidence in the loving character of God. Proper Use of Lament Psalms Speaking of the whole of Scripture, Luther said in his Table Talk, in a form of prayer: “God grant me grace to catch hold of its just use.”48 To read the Bible aright, Luther stressed in his lectures on Psalm 51, one must observe “the proper subject of theology”—“man guilty of sin and condemned and God the justifier and Saviour of man the sinner.”49 “Whoever follows this aim in reading Holy Scriptures will read holy things fruitfully.”50 The specific task of theology is to be preoccupied with the fruitful reading of the “holy things,” namely the twofold theological knowledge—man guilty and God the justifier. Whoever reads holy things fruitfully must do so within this proper subject, lest “error and poison” 48. Luther, Table Talk (London: Harper Collins, 1995), 31, n. 62. The full sentence reads, “The Holy Scripture of itself is certain and true: God grant me grace to catch hold of its just use.” The word just simply means proper. Cited in Michael Parsons, Martin Luther’s Interpretation of Royal Psalms (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2009), 1. 49. LW 12.311. 50. LW 12.311. The italics are mine. [ Page ] xxxii result.51 So to read holy things fruitfully is to reap holy fruits for the care of the soul. This provides a cue for the title of the book, Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms. It is this author’s hope that his readers might reap from Luther’s interpretation of the lament Psalms the richness of the holy things, which might constitute a fruitful source for public proclamation (preacher), church liturgy (worship leader), personal and corporate healing (pastors and spiritual directors), and personal growth in faith. Accessible to the nonspecialist, more advanced theological students, pastors, and teachers in churches, the book is aimed to help the wider audience to experience the riches of the Psalms. In the Psalter we find manifold, unspeaking blessings or fruits which we could harvest, use diligently and properly, “exercising ourselves in them to the praise and honor of God, lest with ingratitude we earn something worse.”52 Luther counsels us not to loathe the Psalter as “worthless food” (Num. 21:5), as the Jews did in the wilderness, thereby incurring judgement and curses upon themselves. Psalms 6, 51, 77, 90, 94, and 118 are the focus of discussion. As a whole, Luther’s interpretation of the lament psalms has not been undertaken,53 so this book fills the lacuna in Luther scholarship. In 2017, Christians around the world will celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of Luther’s posting 51. LW 12.311. 52. LW 35.257. 53. In addition to Michael Parsons’s Martin Luther’s Interpretation of the Royal Psalms, for which I wrote a commendation, his Luther and Calvin on Grief and Lament (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013), discusses briefly the lament Psalms, with accurate reading of Luther’s view. See chapter 4. [ Page ] xxxiii of the ninety-five theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. There will be books revealing diverse pictures of the reformer. Whatever images of Luther one may have, one must bear in mind that Reformation itself, as George intimates, was “a movement of applied theology and lived Christianity.”54 Hence one should not overlook that Luther was fundamentally a pastor-theologian who sought to lead sinners to a saving knowledge of God’s grace revealed in Jesus Christ.55 Readers will also discover that for Luther, the care of the soul is a theological task, focused on the proper usage of Holy Scripture. It is not so much about offering a solution psychologically or socially as it is about God addressing the people in law and gospel, wrath and mercy, condemnation and consolation.56 Not worthless food, but the bread of heaven, the Psalter is given providentially, practically, and precisely for that noble purpose. 54. George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers, 228. 55. See Timothy J. Wengert, ed., The Pastoral Luther. Essays on Martin Luther’s Practical Theology (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2009). 56. For a recent study of Luther as a pastor-theologian, see John T. Pless, Martin Luther: Preacher of the Cross (St. Louis: Concordia, 2013). [ Page ] xxxiv ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. William Horsey Library - Tyndale Digital Collections *****