Efficacy of the Word
Luther always taught the efficacy of the Word, and this effectiveness is stated clearly and concisely in our Confessions:
For let me tell you this, even though you know it perfectly and be already master in all things, still you are daily in the dominion of the devil, who ceases neither day nor night to steal unawares upon you, to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against the foregoing and all the commandments. Therefore you must always have God's Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears. But where the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has done the damage before we are aware. On the other hand, such is the efficacy of the Word, whenever it is seriously contemplated, heard, and used, that it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and produces a pure heart and pure thoughts. For these words are not inoperative or dead, but creative, living words.[1]
Efficacy is the most neglected characteristic of God’s Word today, although it was central to Luther, the Concordists, the orthodox Lutherans of Europe, and the General Council in America. The efficacy of the Word was defined by WELS theologian Adolph Hoenecke: “The Word never without the Spirit, the Spirit never without the Word – that is sound doctrine.” Encapsulating the Scriptures and Confessions, that plain and simple formula means God Word and Spirit cannot be divorced from each other. If God’s Word is taught in its purity, without the adulteration of man’s wisdom, that Word will have its effect, whether to save or damn, illuminate or darken, convert or harden. Moreover, the timing of God’s work and will is not ours to judge. The efficacy of the Word is the point of contention in discussing the topic of justification. Enthusiasm—separating the Holy Spirit from the Word—lies behind every error in teaching justification, whether that error is advanced by Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, or synodical Lutherans. A synodical Lutheran honors and protects the visible church, the synod. A confessional Lutheran values the Scriptures and Confessions above all.
Guilt-free saints in Hell are a staple of the WELS/ELS perversion of the Gospel, but Luther taught otherwise, since it is only the efficacious Word that creates saints (believers).
For the Word of God is the sanctuary above all sanctuaries, yea, the only one which we Christians know and have. For though we had the bones of all the saints or all holy and consecrated garments upon a heap, still that would help us nothing; for all that is a dead thing which can sanctify nobody. But God's Word is the treasure which sanctifies everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were sanctified. At whatever hour, then, God's Word is taught, preached, heard, read or meditated upon, there the person, day, and work are sanctified thereby, not because of the external work, but because of the Word, which makes saints of us all. Therefore I constantly say that all our life and work must be ordered according to God's Word, if it is to be God-pleasing or holy. Where this is done, this commandment is in force and being fulfilled. [2]
Wherever the UOJ wolves prowl, they argue against the efficacy of the Word. Their attacks may not be directly against the Word, because that is too obvious. Instead, they praise and honor their own methods and personalities, realizing that supplanting the Word is preferred. One they have made the ministry man-centered, the outward confessions and doctrines mean nothing.
Doctrine of Creation – Conversion – Efficacy
Before man existed, God fashioned the entire universe through the creating Word – the Son of God. When God spoke through the Logos (the Word), His will was immediately carried out, not in billions of years to allow for random events of infinite complexity. This issue is not antiquarian but essential to justification by faith.
The universe was created by the Word, and every believer is a new creation through the Word. But UOJ advocates would have us understand that God works without the Word in declaring the entire world absolved, free from sin, extending this Enthusiastic decree to the residents of Hell.
The Genesis commands, “and God said,” are the work of the Logos in John. The creating Word—He was in the beginning with God.
“The Holy Spirit never without the Word, the Word never without the Holy Spirit – that is sound doctrine.” – Adolph Hoenecke[3]
Christians can claim that the Word is always effective and that the Holy Spirit always works exclusively through the Word. The classic Isaiah passage alone is enough to refute any attacks against this doctrine, but there are many other passages expressing the same unified truth in different words.
Isaiah 55:8-11
KJV Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
The Word of God is exactly like rain and snow. The three-fold results are revealed in perfect clarity:
- It shall not return unto Me void,
- But it shall accomplish that which I please,
- And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
This passage by itself makes rejection of the Word’s efficacy impossible. No exceptions can be found with a litotes, a double negative – “it shall not return to Me void.” The rain and snow metaphor enforces this teaching.
God’s Word blesses us with many ways to view this efficacy, to deepen our trust in His Holy Spirit work, to remove our toxic doubts. How often we stop to measure our Christian ministry by the outward marks of success, instead of trusting fidelity to His Word! Satan plagues us by showing off the wealth and honors of his most compliant servants, taunting us with those examples, to take our attention away from God’s Promises.
Abundant Examples
Nevertheless, the Scriptures provide an abundance witness to the effectiveness of His Word alone:
- The Sower and the Seed parable (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke ) teaches us that the Word will prosper in spite of difficulties.
- The living seed of the Word has life in itself and grows.
- An individual is born again by the power of the incorruptible seed, which is the Word (1 Peter 1:21).
- The engrafted Word (James 1:21) placed in the believer saves his soul.
- The Gospel is a yeast which grows and permeates the life of the believer (Matthew 13).
- Those who abide in Christ through the Means of Grace will bear fruit, while those who separate themselves will shrivel, die, and be cast away (John 15:1-10).
Pietism Is Enthusiasm
The foundation of all false doctrine is Enthusiasm, condemned by the Book of Concord, based upon a correct interpretation of Scripture. The efficacy of the Word alone excludes Enthusiasm, just as Enthusiasm leaves no room for the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit through the Word.
In a word, enthusiasm inheres in Adam and his children from the beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin, power [life], and strength of all heresy, especially of that of the Papacy and Mahomet. Therefore we ought and must constantly maintain this point, that God does not wish to deal with us otherwise than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. It is the devil himself whatsoever is extolled as Spirit without the Word and Sacraments. For God wished to appear even to Moses through the burning bush and spoken Word; and no prophet, neither Elijah nor Elisha, received the Spirit without the Ten Commandments [or spoken Word]. Neither was John the Baptist conceived without the preceding word of Gabriel, nor did he leap in his mother's womb without the voice of Mary. [4]
As Luther noted then, the Enthusiasts did not trust the Word of God to be efficacious and filled with the Holy Spirit, but they wrote as if their own offerings were directly from God and efficacious. The same evil spirit prevails today, from ignoring the clear message of the revealed Word while proving an evil doctrine from recent synodical essays and theses.
All this is the old devil and old serpent, who also converted Adam and Eve into enthusiasts, and led them from the outward Word of God to spiritualizing and self-conceit, and nevertheless he accomplished this through other outward words. Just as also our enthusiasts [at the present day] condemn the outward Word, and nevertheless they themselves are not silent, but they fill the world with their pratings and writings, as though, indeed, the Spirit could not come through the writings and spoken word of the apostles, but [first] through their writings and words he must come. Why [then] do not they also omit their own sermons and writings, until the Spirit Himself come to men, without their writings and before them, as they boast that He has come into them without the preaching of the Scriptures?[5]
Roman Catholic Enthusiasm
The Roman Catholic Church is pure Enthusiasm, because of the way the pope manufactures new revelations that contradict the Scripture. Lutherans trained in synodical Enthusiasm find the change to Roman or Eastern Orthodoxy Enthusiasm a blissful transition. No conversion is necessary.
For [indeed] the Papacy also is nothing but sheer enthusiasm, by which the Pope boasts that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart, and whatever he decides and commands with [in] his church is spirit and right, even though it is above and contrary to Scripture and the spoken Word."[6]
Pietistic cell groups have led people to believe that they receive grace without the Word, without the Means of Grace. Thus we hear that programs and methods are anointed by the Holy Spirit, and even very anointed, while making it clear that the Word alone cannot accomplish such great tasks as the Prayer Warriors, the Off Our Rockers elderly program, the Entertainment Evangelism seeker service, the Children’s Puppets, and liturgical dance. Such training makes it relatively easy to imagine that everyone in the world is forgiven, without faith or the Word. Also, such a perverse doctrine as UOJ guarantees that methods of Enthusiasm will rush in to replace the Means of Grace.
And in those things which concern the spoken, outward Word, we must firmly hold that God grants His Spirit or grace to no one, except through or with the preceding outward Word, in order that we may [thus] be protected against the enthusiasts, i. e., spirits who boast that they have the Spirit without and before the Word, and accordingly judge Scripture or the spoken Word, and explain and stretch it at their pleasure, as Muenzer did, and many still do at the present day, who wish to be acute judges between the Spirit and the letter, and yet know not what they say or declare. For [indeed] the Papacy also is nothing but sheer enthusiasm, by which the Pope boasts that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart, and whatever he decides and commands with [in] his church is spirit and right, even though it is above and contrary to Scripture and the spoken Word.[7]
The Formula Repudiates UOJ
Repudiation of Enthusiasm is rejection of UOJ, as the Formula of Concord states so clearly, since God’s grace comes to man only through His appointed Instruments of Grace.
Also, we reject and condemn the error of the Enthusiasts, who imagine that God without means, without the hearing of God's Word, also without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws men to Himself, and enlightens, justifies, and saves them.[8]
The Missouri Synod recognized this fact, long before UOJ became dominant.
Hence, too, the lack of emphasis, even in the best of Reformed preaching, upon the divine Word as the vehicle of regenerating grace and on the Sacraments. The office of the Word, then, is merely to point to the way of life, without communicating that of which it conveys the idea. The Word and Sacraments are declared to be necessary; their office in the Church is a divine institution; but they are only symbols of what the Spirit does within; and the Spirit works immediately and irresistibly.[9]
Muhlenberg Tradition
The Muhlenberg tradition—General Synod, General Council, ULCA, LCA, and a large segment of ELCA—began in Pietism and wandered into revivalism (General Synod). However, the confessional struggle helped many of its leaders realize the value of the liturgy, creeds, and Means of Grace.
To the Lutheran the sermon, as the preached Word, is a means of grace. Through it the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth. It is a constant offer of pardon; a giving of life, as well as a nourishing and strengthening of life. In the Reformed churches the sermon is apt to be more hortatory and ethical. It partakes more of the sacrificial than of the sacramental character. The individuality of the preacher, the subjective choice of a text, the using of it merely for a motto, the discussion of secular subjects, the unrestrained platform style, lack of reverence, lack of dignity, and many other faults are common, and are not regarded as unbecoming the messenger of God in His temple. Where there is a properly trained Lutheran consciousness such things repel, shock, and are not tolerated.[10]
Gerberding was describing the Church and Change leaders of WELS/ELS today, the Jesus First and charismatics of the LCMS. What shocked and repelled the Muhlenberg tradition is now richly rewarded in the old Synodical Conference.
[1] The Large Catechism, #100, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 609. Tappert, p. 378f. Heiser, p. 175f.
[2] The Large Catechism, Preface, #91-2, The Third Commandment, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, 004 p. 607. Exodus 20:8-11.
[3] Dogmatik, IV, p. 17.
[4] Smalcald Articles, VIII. Confession, 9-10 Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 497. Tappert, p. 313. 2 Peter 1:21.
[5] Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, 3-5, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312f.
[6] Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, 3-5, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312.
[7] Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, 3-5, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312.
[8] Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article II, Free Will, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 789. Tappert, p. 471.
[9] "Grace, Means of," The Concordia Cyclopedia, L. Fuerbringer, Th. Engelder, P. E. Kretzmann, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1927, p. 298.
[10] G. H. Gerberding, The Lutheran Pastor, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1915, p. 278.
