More on Heilsgeschichte

Yesterday I was reading Dr. Horace Hummel's excellent book, The Word Becoming Flesh, looking up his references to Heilsgeschichte. While doing so, I came across some other wonderful, but neglected terms: Heilseschatologie(salvation eschatology), Heilsorakel (oracle of salvation),and Heilsprophetie (salvation prophecy).

Hummel made some powerful comments regarding the Minor Prophets. Perhaps more than any other prophet, Hosea is the prophet of Heilsgeschichte (The Word Becoming Flesh 297). The Prophet Habakkuk attacks the problem of evil more directly related to the themes of Heilsgeschichte (The Word Becoming Flesh351). Many times the Minor Prophets are overshadowed by the Major Prophets. Much emphasis is focused on Isaiah and his suffering Servant themes that are so predictive of the Christ. But Hummel points out that a number of the Minor Prophets unpack the Heilsgeschichte theme.

Dr. Horace Hummel rightly notes, "Heilsgeschichte (the term may be used very positively) does not first begin with Gen. 12, as critics commonly hold, but at Gen. 3:15, the ‘Protoevangelium.’" (The Word Becoming Flesh66). This statement is vitally important to understanding Heilsgeschichte. The LORD's salvation history does not begin with Abraham, but with Eve. Abraham and Genesis 12 are merely the next steps in God's unfolding plan to save fallen, sinful humanity, a plan which the LORD undertook at the very moment mankind fell into sin and rebellion. As such, Hummel is challenging the accepted theological approach of historical criticism that devalues Genesis 1-11 as nothing more than a small step above the pagan myths.

God's Heilsgeschichte theme winds its way throughout the Old Testament. Often it is hidden in the saving acts of Israel, quietly pointing to a future, more full saving act of the LORD's Christ. Other times it cries from the roof tops, as seen in Isaiah, Hosea, and Habakkuk. God's salvation history moves forward with each generation in the Old Testament until it finds fulfillment in the New Testament with the birth of Jesus who suffers on the cross for our forgiveness and is raised from the grave on Easter for our victory. The theme of salvation history continues to move forward with the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. On the last day, Christ will return and we will experience Heilsgeschichte in our resurrected bodies.

Atonement and Salvation in Matthew

I just finished reading an article by Dr. Jeffrey A. Gibbs in the July 2008 volume of Concordia Theological Quarterly. It's entitled ,,The Son of God and the Father's Wrath: Atonement and Salvation in Matthew's Gospel".



Gibbs' article is rich in Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) language. Gibbs spends time unpacking Heilsgeschichte as it relates to Jesus as God's Son -- as Israel reduced to one. I believe Dr. Horace Hummel coined the term "Israel reduced to one". This obviously has a strong vicarious nature to it.



Gibbs writes, ,,Jesus ... begins to show the necessity -- presumably the divine necessity -- of his rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem" (CTQ 218). He stands for the people -- Israel, you, and me. His death is vicarious, taking wrath and judgment in the place of the people (CTQ 223).



Gibbs concludes by highlighting not only Jesus' vicarious death for us, but also His vicarious resurrection from the dead for us (CTQ 225). This is the theological and heilsgeschichtlische application of Pauls declaration in Romans 6 that we have been buried with Christ in our Baptism....



I had Dr. Gibbs at the seminary for a class on the Gospel of Matthew. He is an excellent theologian, and I highly recommend reading his articles and his commentaries on Matthew

Heilsgeschichte, Part 3

Heilsgeschichte is the understanding that God does redeeming acts throughout history. Numerous examples could be given, but the two big acts were: the Exodus and Calvary.



S. G. De Graaf writes in his four-volume set, Promise and Deliverance: ,,We must not tell chiefly of people, of their faith as an attracting example and of their sins as a repelling example, but we must tell of the revelation of the grace of God in Christ” (Horton, Modern Reformation May/June Vol. 5 No. 3 1996).



Sadly, we don't find this kind of preaching in American churches; Europeans don't find this in their churches either. One of the reasons Europeans have left the churches vacant is because many of the pastors don't preach Christ crucified and risen. Strangely, I've noticed that in America the churches that preach Christ crucified and risen seem to be small and sparsely attended, while churches that preach a different gospel, a gospel of prosperity and positive self-image seem to be large and filled to the max. I know there are churches full of Christians where they hear Christ crucified and risen. I'm not sure why churches that preach a different gospel are so attractive and filled every Sunday. Perhaps American Christians haven't reached the depth of despair that our European brothers and sisters in Christ have reached; or perhaps our general attitude toward ,,me" as the most important person in my life is naturally attracted to the kind of preaching one can find on any Christian TV channel.



I am so glad that Issues, Etc. is back on the air. That show is focused on Christ crucified, and that is nothing other than Heilsgeschichte.



The Bible isn't about me and how I can succeed in life. Yes, there are directives in holy Scripture that tell us to trust in God who will bless us. But the real theme and core of the Bible is about God redeeming His fallen creation from sin. He redeems us in history. The saving acts of God are historical activities; other historians mention them in their histories. The crucifixion of Christ is mentioned by other Roman historians of that era. When we realize that God acts in history (He is immanent in, not transcendant from, our lives and from history), then we realize that He acts in my life. When Christ crucified is preached, then the proper doctrine of the Bible is being proclaimed. God is concerned about me; God died for me; God rose from the dead for me. That's Jesus who did that for me! Christ crucified and risen for my justification is the fulfillment of Heilsgeschichte, and so He is to be the focus of preaching. Jesus just can't be tacked onto a sermon, but Jesus must be permeate the sermon. Walther said that the gospel must predominate the sermon.



I just watched about a half an hour of an American Christian preacher having a crusade in Uppsala, Sweden. I recently read an article that said Sweden is one of the most secularized countries in the world and has the worst church attendance. The Church of Sweden (which is officially Lutheran) has essentially collapsed because Heilsgeschichte is not being preached from the pulpits. Well, this American preacher was going on and on about God. He tacked on the name of Jesus a few times, but he never got down to the real message of Christ crucified. The Swedes don't need a prosperity/positive self image gospel proclaimed to them, but they need a Christ crucified for their sins preached to them. Then, and only then, will the Swedes come to faith and seek out those few churches that actually preach the gospel in all its fullness and sweetness. And when more and more of them clamor for pure gospel preaching, then the Church of Sweden will (hopefully) get back on track and take Heilsgeschichte seriously.

Heilsgeschichte, Part 2

Johann K. von Hofmann (1810-77) coined the term ,,Heilsgeschichte”, but the principle or theme seems to have been used by all the prophets and apostles who wrote the Old and New Testaments (Francis Pieper derogatoratively called Hofmann an ,,Ich-theologe” – a theologian focusing on the Christian self). The Heilsgeschichte concept was used in Medieval Europe and the Reformation. In the 1950s, Heilsgeschichte was used in Old Testament studies as a theological principle, reading Scripture as the story of God’s redeeming acts in history.

Four theologians are credited with emphasizing various points that would eventually be collected under the Heilsgeschichte umbrella: Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Joachim of Floris (1135-1202, Italian mystic and theologian), Johannes Cocceius (1603-69, Dutch theologian), and Johann Bengel (1687-1752), a Lutheran pietist minister. Joachim presented the view of ,,three ages”: the ages of the Father (OT), Son (NT, specifically from Jesus to 1260), and Spirit (1260: when mankind was to come in direct contact with God, reaching the total freedom preached by the Christian message) [Wikipedia]. Cocceius developed covenant theology: before as much as after the fall of man, the relation between God and man was a covenant. The first covenant was a Covenant of Works. For this was substituted, after the Fall, the Covenant of Grace, necessitating the coming of Jesus for its fulfillment (Wikipedia). Bengel's contribution was his devotion to the historical-grammatical method of reading the Scriptures.

I am not sure what exactly Augustine's contribution was to Heilsgeschichte; perhaps it was just his overall theology.

The Heilsgeschichte concept developed in the Erlangen school, with its emphases on Biblical hermeneutics, confessional ecclesiology, our communion with Christ as a starting point, and Scripture as witness to God’s redemptive acts in history (The Encyclopedia of Christianity).
Hofmann coined the word ,,Heilsgeschichte” in 1841. Individual theologians like Adolf Schlatter (1852-1938) kept Heilsgeschichte prominent, as in the design of Gerhard Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (The Encyclopedia of Christianity). Oscar Cullmann (1902-99) brought Heilsgeschichte to its fullest expression and, with pupils and allies, its peak of influence in Biblical and ecumenical theology (The Encyclopedia of Christianity).

Still more to follow ...

Heilsgeschichte

I mentioned ,,Heilsgeschichte" (salvation history) in my sermon last Sunday. I thought I'd flesh out the concept a bit more, since I utilize it often in sermons.

I don't know a whole lot about the historical background of the concept. The basic premise I've seen is that the the term was used in Old Testament studies in the 1950s as a theological principle, reading Scripture as the story of God’s redeeming acts in history. That's a fairly decent understanding of the term, but I suspect there is more historical background, and I intend to do more research on it.

I found a website that had a few paragraphs on Heilsgeschichte, and I translated them from the original German. Here is a paragraph that gives a brief summary of the principle. It is from

http://www.geistigenahrung.org/ftopic9637.html

,,The salvation history covers the Christian faith, and is centered (,,fullness of the time” Gal. 4.4; Eph. 1.10) spatially in the Roman province of Judea and temporally in the first decades of the Christian era in the life and deeds, the crucifixion and resurrection, of Jesus of Nazareth. The creation story of the Bible with the fall into sin are regarded as the announcement and preparation of salvation history, especially the story of Israel from Abraham to Moses (Exodus), David, the Prophets until the Babylonian Exile, and the rebuilding of the temple. The history of Christ is regarded as the ,,last time” or ,,end time,” for the gospel comes to all people until the number who are saved is fulfilled and the Christian Messiah Jesus Christ will come again in glory (Messiah, final judgment, eschatology, apocalypse)" (Geistige Nahrung).

More to follow ...