Gerhard O. Forde has been held up in the discussions of sanctification as evidence that Christians should not be urged to good works (that may be an overgeneralization). I decided to check out a couple of his books, this one Where God Meets Man: Luther’s Down-to-Earth Approach to the Gospel.

Forde begins by showing a theology of a ladder, whereby the Christian proceeds up to heaven or perfection. Martin Luther left the monastery and its tasks of ascending to heaven by special spiritual exercises. Instead of our going up the ladder, the author insists that God comes down to us.

This view has interesting consequences, according to Forde. He refutes the Law as the way to salvation. Luther was attacking not only the medieval penitential system but the idea that God could be “bought off” with works. When we tell someone they have to believe, we make believing into a law, and it ceases to be “good news.”

Forde counts two uses of the law: one of civil conduct here on earth and one to convict us of sin. Later on in the book, Forde does define a “proper use” of the law for Christians which seems to combine the Formula of Concord’s First and Third Use:

…Hope in the world to come creates the faith and patience to live in this world; it gives this world back to us by relieving us of the burden of our restless quests. Freedom from the world makes us free for it. Just so faith in the gospel does not despise the law or destroy it, rather it places the law for the first time on a solid basis. Because its goal is given, it is no longer our enemy. Because we need not fear it, we can begin to see its proper use. In this way the words of St. Paul get their due: “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:31)

In this manner I can see Scott Murray’s remarks in his book that while Forde counts just two uses of the law, he does not say we should ignore obeying the law. Living the law and obeying God’s commands is fighting evil, whether a layman does the best possible work in his vocation or whether a pastor is ministering to his sheep.

This is a blip on the radar in Forde’s dissertation of law and grace. The author goes on to say that even choosing to believe is something we cannot do on our own (as we confess in the explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed). If we have to choose to accept God (a work of law), then God’s grace is not sufficient for us. Man’s freedom to choose is a man-centered faith. We have to focus our attention on what God has revealed to us and what He has done for us. The will of God is revealed in our baptism and the reception of his supper. His predestination for us is not a threat but a promise.

Forde disputes the vicarious satisfaction as part of the thesis that God cannot be bought off. If God could be bought off, how much was enough? If our debt was paid, then it wasn’t forgiven. Christ did not die to pay a price and enable us to do good again. Instead he says Christ accomplished atonement for us by dying in our place and ahead of us to identify himself with us.

His absolute identification with us puts to death the Old Adam in us so that his dead is our death. He dies ahead of us to bring us life here and now. This identification with him in dead leads to identification with him in the new resurrection life. The death and resurrection of Christ leads not merely to a doctrine about atonement, but to an actual accomplishment of atonement. (emphasis author’s)

Instead of getting better bit by bit with the law, we must delineate between the old and the new, the new brought about by death and resurrection. The temptation is to go up the ladder and become like God. That is to refuse our humanity and to refuse to take care of what is given us. Adam wasn’t created to be a god; he was created to be a human. Forde states that man was “creaturely perfect” but did not have prefect knowledge of God and his prerogatives. Jesus did not die to make us gods but to make us new creatures. The fall of man is a fall from faith, to stop trusting God and to take matters into his own hands to become gods. Our new life begins now. The old Adam that wants to be God must be put to death now so that a new man can take his place. It doesn’t take place completely in this life; the transition from old to new is the greatest mystery. The new man acts to put to death the old man who chooses for himself out of illusion.

The author also goes into the gospel of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, how they are actions for us. Baptism puts an end to the old man who is searching elsewhere for God. God comes down to us in his Supper, where we receive a forgiveness that “is actually worked in us by the very descent of God into things humble and lowly.”

Finally, Forde’s view of church and state is a take we don’t hear that often. He details the church/state of the Reformation-era papacy, but in today’s world we must worry more about atheism becoming the state church. Religion should be kept out of politics, but the church must exist in the public square to keep the state from becoming the church. We cannot save the world through the state.

For me the most interesting thing about this book is the de-emphasis of “making it to heaven.” We do get a new heaven and a new earth, after all (Revelation 21:1-3). Sitting at the right hand of God, being connected with Christ, would get very crowded if the Son of God had to be localized in heaven. We should be content to be the new creatures God is making us to be.

The edition I bought on Amazon from Augsburg Publishing House appeared to suffer from photocopy degradation; the letters weren’t very crisp. Forde’s 128 pages are fairly easy to read, but sometimes the reader had to reread pages to understand the distinctions he was trying to make, especially his points on vicarious satisfaction. Endnotes were at the end of each chapter, but occasionally he would make a “Luther said” statement and not reference it.

The old man-new man discussion may not be one that is solved in this lifetime, but one can see where it causes all sorts of problems in the discussions regarding sanctification. We are baptized into death so that we “might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Does the “new man” need to be trained? Maybe he wouldn’t, if we didn’t have the old man still to deal with. :) At least Forde is willing to leave it a mystery.