LUTHER'S THESES:THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS.

ON APRIL 25, 1518 AN ASSEMBLY OF AUGUSTIANS MET AT HEIDELBERG, GERMANY. LUTHER'S NINETY- FIVE THESES, POSTED SOME SIX-MONTHS BEFORE HAND, HAD STIRRED CRIES OF PROTEST. LEO X ASKED FOR AN ASSSEMBLY THROUGH ESTABLISHED CHANNELS OF LUTHER'S ORDER, THE AGUSTIANS. IN PREPARATIONS FOR  THE DISPUTATIONS, LUTHER WROTE 28 THEOLOGICAL AND 12 PHILOSOPHICAL THESES. THESE ARE COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE "HEIDELBERG DISPUTATION OF 1518."  THESES 18-24 CONTAIN LUTHER'S "THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS" IN EXPLICIT
CONTRAST TO WHAT LUTHER CALL S "THEOLOGY OF GLORY.":
 18. IT IS CERTAIN THAT MAN MUST UTTERLY DISPAIR OF HIS OWN ABILITY BEFORE HE IS PREPARED TO RECIEVE THE GRACE OF CHRIST.
 19. THAT PERSON DOES NOT RECIEVE TO BECALLED A THEOLOGIAN WHO LOOKS UPON THE INVISBLE THINGS OF GOD AND  AS THOUGH THEY WERE CLEARLY PERCEPTABLE IN THOSE THINGS WHICH HAVE ACTUALLY HAPPENED [ROM 1:20].
 2O. HE DESERVES TO BE CALLED A THEOLOGIAN, HOWEVER, WHO COMPREHENDS THE VISIBLE AND MANIFEST THINGS OF GOD SEEN THROUGH SUFFERING AND THE CROSS.
 21. A THEOLOGIAN OF GLORY CALLS  EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL. A THEOLOGIAN OF THE CROSS CALLS THE THING WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS.
 22. THE WISDOM WHICH SEES THE INVISABLE THINGS OF GOD IN WORKS AS PERCIEVED BY MAN IS COMPLETELY PUFFED UP, BLINDED, AND HARDENED,
 23.THE LAW BRINGS THE WRATH OF GOD, KILLS, REVILES, ACCUSES,  JUDGES AND CONDEMNS, EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT IN CHRIST. [ROM. 4:15].
 24. YET THAT WISDOM IS NOT OF EVIL ITSELF, NOR IS THE LAW TO BE EVADED; BUT WITHOUT THE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS MAN MISUSES THE BEST IN THE WORST MANNER.
 LUTHER SUMMARIZED HIS THESES IN THE STATEMENT: " THE CROSS PUTS EVERYTHING TO THE TEST." ON THE BASIS OF THESE WORDS OF LUTHER, HEINRICH BORNKAMM COULD SAY THAT LUTHER MADE THE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS. " THE CORNERSTONE ON WHICH MINDS DIVIDE AND GO THEIR DIFFERENT WAYS." IT IS A MATTER OF WHERE ONE BEGINS--WITH THE THEOLOGY OF GLORY OR WITH THE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS. THE STARTING POINT IS CRUCIAL; IT DETERMINES ONE'S UNDERSTANDING AND THE DIRECTION IN WHICH ONE PROCEEDS. WALTHER VON LOEWENICH REMARKED, FOR INSTANCE, THAT THE THEOLOGY  OF THE CROSS IS "A PRINCIPLE OF LUTHER'S ENTIRE THEOLOGY." THOUGH LUTHERANS MAY NOD IN FULL ASSENT, VON LOEWENICH SPOKE A WORD OF CAUTION:
AND NOW IT MUST BE SAID: WHILE THE LUTHERAN CHURCH HAS CLUNG FAITHFULLY TO THE " FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST' (PROPER CHRISTUM) IT SURRENDERED LUTHER'S THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS ALL TOO QUICKLY. THE  THEOLOGY OF GLORY THAT LUTHER OPPOSED HAS MADE A TRIUMPHAL ENTRY ALSO UNTO HIS CHURCH. ONE OCCASIONALLY WONDERS WETHER THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE CROSS HAS NOT EVEN BEEN FORCED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THIS THEOLOGY OF GLORY. WE ARE NOT TO ARGUE VON LOEWENICH'S CONTENTION. IT IS MERELY CITED TO CREATE AN AWARENESS OF HOW EASILY WE CAN SLIP INTO THE THEOLOGY OF GLORY, REGARDLESS OF ONE'S LUTHERAN IDENITY.
THE THEOLOGY OF THE GLORY BEGINS FROM BELOW AND PROCEEDS TO ABOVE, FROM THE VISIBLE TO THE INVISIBLE, FROM THE HUMAN TO THE DIVINE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE THEOLOGY OF GLORY BEGINS FROM THE ORDER AND BEAUTY OF CREATION OR FROM A GREAT EVENT OF HISTORY AND THEN POINTS TO THE SPIRITUAL POWER BEHIND. GOD IS SEEN TO BE MANIFEST FROM HIS WORKS. LUTHER CALLED THIS A PROCESS OF DEDUCTION. BUT LUTHER INSISTED THAT GOD IS HIDDEN IN SUFFERING. GOD REVEALS HIMSELF NOT THROUGH THE "BEST AND BRIGHEST" BUT RATHER THROUGH WEAK AND FOOLISH THINGS, THOUGH HIS "OPPOSITE," THE VERY EVENT THAT APPARENTLY DENIES HIM. WE SEE  GOD'S GLORY  IN THE PLACE WHERE TO ALL HUMAN APPEARANCES THERE IS NO GLORY.
AT THE CENTER OF LUTHER'S UNDERSTANDING IS THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST, WHERE WE COMPREHEND " THE VISIBLE AND MANIFEST THINGS OF GOD. SEEN THROUGH SUFFERING AND THE CROSS." 
WHY SHOULD THE CROSS, CRUCIFIXION, SUFFERING, WEAKNESS, AND SHAME, HUMILITY, TROUBLE, ANGUISH, DARKNESS, AND FOOLISHNESS, BE THE FOCUS OF GOD'S GLORY. WHY SHOULD NOT THE BRIGHT AND PROSPEROUS FEATURES OF LIFE BE THE VISIBLE EVIDENCE OF GOD'S INVISIBLE POWER? LUTHER RESPONDS, "LET GOD BE GOD." THAT IS, THE MATTER PERTAINS TO GOD'S MYSTERY AND HOLINESS. HE WILL BE WHO HE WILL BE. FROM ANOTHER VANTAGE POINT, HOWEVER, LUTHER MAKES A FEW SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE "WHY" OF GOD'S "HOW."  THE CROSS PUTS AN END TO EVERY HUMAN ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE IN FINDING GOD, WETHER THROUGH EXPERIENCE, ACHIEVEMENT, SIGHT, EMOTION,  OR WILL.
THE CROSS PUTS TO THE TEST ANY AND EVERY HUMAN INSINUATION OF "SEEING"
 GOD. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO HAVE GOD IN FULL VIEW AND WITH COMPLETE CERTAINITY. THIS IS MERELY AN EXPRESSION OF HUMAN FEAR AND DESIRE. MOREOVER, THE CREATURE WHO LOVES GLORY AND THE GLAMOUR OF HUMAN WORK PROJECTS THIS ONTO THE VERY ESSENCE OF GOD. HUMANITY PUTS GOD AT THE MERCY OF HUMAN VALUES. GOD BECOMES A GLORIOUS PRODUCTION OF HUMAN DEDUCTION-SCARCELY A GOD OF FREEDOM, HUMILIATION, REVELATION, OR INITIATIVE.
WHY DOES GOD REVEAL HIMSELF THROUGH SUFFERING? ONE REASON, ACCORDING TO LUTHER, IS OUR NEED TO BE PURGED OF SIN, THE NEED OF THE PROUD TO BE HUMBLED. SUFFERING AND HUMILIATION ALLOW FAITH TO TRUST THE SUFFICIENCY OF GOD' GRACE. THE WORST KIND OF TROUBLE IS TO HAVE NO TROUBLE. TROUBLE KEEPS FAITH IN MOTION-HOPING, TRUSTING, LOVING. " THE CROSS PUTS EVERY THING TO THE TEST. NONETHELESS, LUTHER REJECTS SUFFERING ITSELF AS BEING GOOD WORK OR ANOTHER DEDUCTION OF GOD'S PRESENCE. LUTHER WOULD NOT BOAST OF HIS OWN CROSS.