Necessary Roughness

My weekend was open before we start doing some 12-hour shifts Monday at the Bakersfield facility, so I got some advice as to what to visit. Several people nominated Holy Trinity in Hacienda Heights, CA. Pastor Cwirla, who is practically an Issues, Etc., regular, was out of town, but a Church History professor from Concordia University Irvine performed the service. I did record The Rev. Dr. Korey Maas’s sermon on the Transfiguration, but dead batteries have kept me from downloading it to the laptop.

Perhaps I should have taken a picture of the sanctuary. I first noticed the curves at every opportunity, then the teal ceiling and the pinkish beige walls. The order of worship was Divine Service III, with cross and gospel processionals. Holy Communion had an interesting local custom: the communicants approached and dismissed themselves at the rail, in effect a continuous line. The pastor then gave the final blessing to the congregation at the end.

Bible class was interesting for several reasons. I was recognized by someone formerly in my brother’s Boy Scout troop in Kansas City. I had no chance of recognizing him because the last time I saw him he was half the height he is now. He now works for the radio show Stand to Reason.

Another person asked where I was from. When I said, “Ohio,” he said, “so that’s why you’re so nice. Californians are in their own little world.” I hadn’t even done anything I thought was nice at the time.

Pastor Cwirla had been working through Romans in his Bible study, and it just so happened that they were on Romans 3:27-4:12. A couple of notes from Professor Maas’s class:

When Martin Luther translated Romans 3:28 into German, he inserted the word allein (alone) next to the word for faith, so that it was clear that “we are justified by faith (alone) apart from works of the law.” The Roman theologians complained Luther changed scripture to match his views. Luther had three reasons:

• Linguistics. The German grammatical construct required the use of the word.
• Doctrine. Faith alone was evident in other writings of St. Paul.
• History. Several church fathers had also held faith alone, including St. Augustine, St. Basil, St. Cyril, St. Chrysostom, and of all people, St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Exposition of the First Epistle to Timothy, chapter 1.

Romans 3:30-4:3: God is the same in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. Abraham was justified by believing the Gospel in the Old Testament, and we still uphold the Law in the New Testament.

The doctrine of faith alone is opposed by Roman Catholics and others on the basis of the second chapter of James. In verse 22, the Greek where “completed” was drawn from can also mean “fulfilled” or “employed with purpose.” There is also a historical context. James was writing to the twelve tribes, who believed that they were no longer under the law and thus believed they didn’t need to uphold the law because they had an intellectual ascent they referred to as “faith.” Paul likely was countering readers of James who thought James was talking about the saving faith given by God.

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