God’s alien work, faith, and the sin against the Holy Spirit. Now that’s a feast!

Ephesians 5:8-14

…for once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light…
— Ephesians 5:8 (NRSVue)

Verse 8 is cited in Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article 2: Free Will (FC, SD 2.10) among the list of quotes and citations that make clear human reason cannot make sense of the gospel without the presence of the Holy Spirit because human reason is caught in sin.

…for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.
— Ephesians 5:9

Verse 9 is cited through editorial insert a little later in Solid Declaration, Article 4: Good Works (FC, SD 4.9) because with faith, with the Holy Spirit, good works will follow.

John 9:1-41

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.
— John 9:2-3 (NRSVue)

Verses 2 thru 3 are referenced in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 12: Repentance (AP 12. 159) as one of several biblical stories where bad things happening to people are not God’s judgment and wrath, but rather God doing something that will show God’s power through our weakness. Not every bad thing is our fault, sometimes God is up to something and we are being called to remain faithful. And sometimes the fault lies in the community and not the individual. For those who are daring, this is the text to use to talk about God’s alien works and God’s proper works.

Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided.
—John 9:14-16 (NRSVue)

Verses 14 thru 16 are cited in a footnote to The Large Catechism, Part 1: The Ten Commandments, The Third Commandment (LC 1.81, n. 63) as one of the places where the religious leaders of Jesus’ day prove themselves hypocrites by accusing Jesus of doing something they did on a regular basis—in this case, breaking the sabbath.

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
— John 9:41 (NRSVue)

Verses 16 and 41 are cited through editorial insert in Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article 11: Election (FC, SD 11.78) with a string of other citations from the gospels showing times when people did not believe, not because God does not love them, but because they rejected the Holy Spirit and would not believe.

TheoThru

These weeks in John are such a great series. We have the topics of election, conversion, and God’s alien work running all through these readings. And such a powerful combination of topics right now!

For those who never learned or have forgotten, the idea of God’s alien work is that there are times when God is present in the middle of what the world would consider bad or evil things in order that something wonderful would result. The primary example is, of course, Jesus’ crucifixion, but John 9 is another example. The old way of thinking—that bad things happen to you and yours because you sinned—is proven wrong by Jesus himself. Indeed, something bad might happen so that God’s glory might be revealed!

This biblical idea that Luther dwells on of God’s alien work had led to a whole sub-genre of books I like to think of as “Baptist thinker encountering Luther for the first time.” Its not a thought limited to Baptists, but most of the books and articles I’ve read are by Baptists. The general issue is the assumption that God doesn’t let bad things happen to faithful people. The biblical and Lutheran response: Jesus on the cross.

It comes as a surprise to many people that being a faithful Christian means bad things will happen to you, but this idea is biblical. For Lutherans, it finds its most natural expression in the idea of vocation or calling, but the alien work of God is much grander than that because it touches on devastating events, pandemics, natural disasters, and such to show that the point is always God’s strength in our weakness.

This can be hard to fathom, but with the Spirit, those who have the eyes of faith will see God at work.