Luther and faith

For Luther, faith was much more than the assent to a set of doctrines, affiliation with a church, or a method of "sin management," the current maladies that Willard describes. For Luther, faith was:

1. An active response to the gospel
2. A personal relationship with God, and
3. Lived out in glorifying God and serving one's neighbors

Luther taught that salvation is God's acceptance of us through faith in Christ, and does not require us to do anything to earn or deserve it. In fact, attempting to do so proves that faith is something of our own doing, and isn't really in Christ. Yet he was equally clear that true faith would be seen not just by God but by the believer and by the world. Luther would share Willard's criticisms of theologies that require either ethereal faith or social action alone, because neither take God completely seriously.

In "The Theology of Martin Luther," Paul Althaus describes Luther's understanding of faith as an active relationship to God and trust in God's promises to us. For Luther, "faith exists only as a response to God's word ... This word is the word of "promise," that is, of the gospel." (43) He goes on to say that "for Luther then faith means accepting God's promise from the heart and taking a chance on it." (44) This implies living as if the gospel of God's grace is true and that Christ has sent us as he was sent. (John 20).

Just as Jesus approached the chosen disciples and said "Follow me!" the gospel is a summons addressed directly to me. "Faith therefore is always a direct relationship to God himself and to Christ," Althaus writes. "Faith is unconditional trust of God in his word." (44) This can't be done by assenting to doctrine, nor by being part of the church can the church have faith for you.

Luther would certainly argue with the focus of some strains of Christianity on "eternal life." "Faith is the way in which, even while living in the midst of earthly life, we transcend it and live in God, in the fulness of salvation," he says. (47) As Luther himself put it:

Wherever there is faith, eternal life has already begun. (LW 14, 88)

By this Luther doesn't mean that everything has been accomplished and nothing more need be done. Christians live in an in-between time, where God's kingdom has come "already," but has "not yet" been fully revealed. So living to imitate and obey Christ is "the practical form of hope appropriate to the condition of waiting between already having salvation and not yet having it," Althaus says. (250)

We're used to hearing Luther speak of justification by faith, without works. But his writings make it abundantly clear that Luther knew that real faith would produce fruit. Listen to these samples (emphasis added):

"We must therefore most certainly maintain that where there is no faith there also can be no good works; and conversely, that there is no faith where there are no good works. Therefore faith and good works should be so closely joined together that the essence of the entire Christian life consists in both." (WA 12, 282 quoted in Althaus, 246)

"The forgiveness of sins takes place in two ways: first inwardly, through the gospel and the word of God which is received by faith in the heart toward God; second, outwardly through works, about which II Peter 1[:10] says...: 'Dear brethren, be zealous to confirm your calling and election.' He means to say that we should confirm our possession of faith and the forgiveness of sin ... the outward forgiveness that I show in my deeds is a sure sign that I have the forgiveness of sin in the sight of God. On the other hand, if I do not show this in my relations with my neighbor, I have a sure sign that I do not have the forgiveness of sin in the sight of God but am still stuck in my unbelief. ... He takes the work and puts a promise on top of it, so that it might be appropriately called a sacrament, a means of strengthening faith." (LW 21, 149 f., quoted on Althaus, 247)

Luther did not view good works as unnecessary, he simply made it clear that we won't be saved by them. Our works can never be perfect and holy enough to deserve salvation, but even in their limited and imperfect state they can share God's love with our neighbors, and so strengthen our faith.