Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations home > Full Communion Relationships > The Moravian Church > Following Our Shepherd > IV., B.

> next topic

IV. The Journey to Full Communion: B. Mutual Affirmations

The lines between Affirmations and Complementarities may be said to be more porous than they are either sharp or blurred. On the one hand, our backgrounds in the Reformation and Pietism, refracted through our experience in North America, result in significantly large areas of agreement. After all, we affirm the Reformation's principles in virtually identical terms. We seek to apply the Bible to our faith, practice, and mission. Our churches profess and use the three historic creeds of western Christianity, the doctrinal articles of the Augsburg Confession, and the Small Catechism. On the other hand, our backgrounds, experiences and present self- understandings lead us to express ourselves differently in doctrinal and liturgical methods and attitudes. The differences, however, prove to be mutually supportive and enriching - hence the porosity between Affirmations and Complementarities. Put simply, we are not clones one of the other, but sheep from the same fold called to journey more closely with one another as we follow our Shepherd.

Three interpenetrating and important areas fit the description "Mutual Affirmations," and deserve particular comment. Our churches expect to recognize in each other substantial agreement on the nature of the Gospel and on the sacraments. The dialoguers also realized that the Biblical-Reformation principle of justification is essential to that agreement. In presentations and discussions we explored our historical and theological understandings of the Word of God as the traditional framework for the three areas. The dialogue showed that our respective communions have comparable spectrums of diverse attitudes toward and positions on the Word as Law and Gospel and as Scripture. We discerned no significant differences between our churches in content, our attitudes toward, and methods of understanding the Word of God. To aid our churches in the movement toward full communion, the dialoguers concluded that it would be helpful to discuss our mutual affirmations on the Gospel of God in Jesus Christ, Justification By Faith, and the Sacraments.

1. The Gospel

Moravians and Lutherans affirm the centrality, power, and authority of the Gospel in Jesus Christ. God's revelation in and through the Gospel may be expressed in conceptual terms, yet it is far more than doctrines and formulas. Indeed, the Gospel is not an "it;" the Gospel is a person, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Word made human, alive and present in, with and through our experiences, dilemmas and hopes. He is God in person, that is, really present in every area and situation of life as well as by personally relating God's grace and acceptance to us.

To believe in the Gospel is to trust with our whole beings and to profess in our words and actions that Jesus is our Savior and Shepherd. Through his incarnation, death, resurrection and exaltation, he seals God's promises to be with his people and to raise them to eternal life. The message of God's presence and assurance of everlasting fellowship is proclaimed as saving good news in the Scripture, heard in preaching and words of reconciliation spoken by believers, and made visible in the sacraments. This message is named Jesus; he is the divine Promise in fully human form.

Lutherans and Moravians affirm that all persons need the Gospel because we are sinners unable to merit God's favor. Left to ourselves, we are in bondage to evil and headed toward spiritual death. The good news in Christ, however, bestows forgiveness from and reconciliation with God. Jesus' death and resurrection break the power of sin and evil. Moreover, we agree that God's mercy is inseparable from our being renewed through the Spirit to serve God and do God's will. To believe the Gospel, that is, to trust in Christs gift of life through grace produces "good fruits and good works."10

At the same time, Moravians and Lutherans agree that believers are far from being perfect. We experience the Word of God as Law as well as Gospel. The Law calls humans to account, accusing us of sin, and driving us to God's mercy in Christ. The Law of God continually sends us to the Gospel and to Jesus, for the Gospel gives us freely what the Law demands of us. Given the dialectic of Law and Gospel, Lutherans and Moravians agree that through the actions of Law and Gospel we are simultaneously sinners and justified. Further, we discuss within our communions the role of the Law in the life and conduct of believers. However we may debate that role of the Law within our churches, we are convinced that the Law is never a means to salvation; we rely fully on the Gospel, the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Concomitantly, our understanding of the persistence of sin leads us to the joint understanding that the realm of political, cultural and organizational structures are to be ruled and judged by God's Law. Neither Moravians nor Lutherans are utopians who expect the Kingdom of God to come through human efforts and arrangements. At the same time, we understand ourselves to be called by God to participate in society as responsible citizens and to seek justice for all persons.

In order to communicate the Gospel faithfully, Lutherans and Moravians proclaim Christ according to the Holy Scriptures. As noted in the Ground of the Unity and the Formula of Concord, we understand Scripture to be our guide, norm and source for teachings, practices and conduct. Because Moravians and Lutherans understand the Scripture as the normative witness to Jesus Christ for the Church, we affirm scriptural authority without being biblical literalists. We employ historical and other analytical and scholarly means to understand biblical texts and meanings. When we affirm the Reformation principle sola Scriptura, "Scripture alone," we mean, at the very least, that no ecclesiastical authority or pious custom can impose doctrines, actions, and attitudes on persons as conditions for their reconciliation with and salvation by God which are not clearly enjoined in the Scripture.

In summary, Lutherans and Moravians understand the Gospel to be personal and relational, expressed in human form in Jesus. He engages persons and communities, challenges and encouraging them to see, hear and follow him in discipleship. We understand that Gospel to give us freely what the Law demands of us by bringing us into fellowship with Jesus, our Savior-Shepherd. Moravians and Lutherans, then, agree with and affirm each other's understandings of the Gospel, the Scriptures, and the relationship of Law and Gospel.

2. Justification

Lutherans and Moravians share the same emphases and understandings of the biblical and Reformation theme of justification by faith through grace without works of the Law.11 This doctrine concerns Law and Gospel as well as the role of Jesus. In this area Moravians and Lutherans are in agreement and mutual affirmation on the Reformation principles sola gratia (by grace alone) and sola fide (by faith alone). There are numerous models which are used biblically and in the Church's history to express the content of justification, yet the point is that God forgives and is reconciled with sinners not by the merits or deeds or worthiness of the sinners but solely by divine free, gracious will and action in and through Jesus Christ. The divine gift is grasped by believers who are called, enlightened, and led to faith through the Holy Spirit.

Once more, our common grounding in the Reformation and the development of the Reformation through Pietism leads Moravians and Lutherans to express themselves clearly about the graciousness of God in justifying sinners and imparting to them the Spirit through Christ. Moravians will speak in terms of the Lamb who was slain and being clothed in his righteousness. One of Zinzendorf's hymns expresses the thought and devotion:

The Saviour's blood and righteousness
My beauty is, my glorious dress;
Thus well-arrayed, I need not fear,
When in his presence I appear.

The holy, spotless Lamb of God,
Who freely gave his life and blood
For all my numerous sins to atone,
I for my Lord and Saviour own.

Therefore my Saviour's blood and death
Are here the substance of my faith;
And shall remain, when Im called hence,
My only hope and confidence.

Lord Jesus Christ, all praise to thee,
That thou didst deign a man to be,
And for each soul which thou hast made
Hast an eternal ransom paid.

Thy incarnation, wounds and death
I will confess while I have breath,
Till I shall see thee face to face
Arrayed with thy righteousness.12

Historically Lutherans have tended to use a forensic model of justification in which punishment and condemnation are juxtaposed against justification. A late sixteenth century Lutheran theologian wrote that Romans 8 clearly shows

the proper and true meaning of the word "justify."...It agrees entirely with the forensic meaning, that we are absolved before the judgment of God, for Christ's sake, from the guilt of sin and from damnation, pronounced just, and received to eternal life...The Law accuses all of being under sin. Every mouth is stopped, and the whole world is made to stand guilty before God, because by the works of the Law no flesh is justified. But we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption, etc....[The] meaning of the word justify is judicial, namely that the sinner, accused by the Law of God, convicted, and subjected to the sentence of eternal damnation, fleeing in faith to the throne of grace, is absolved for Christ's sake, reckoned and declared righteous, received into grace, and accepted to eternal life."13

Both churches teach that sinners are justified by Christ through grace and are called by the Spirit to newness of life. While believers still may sin and need the accusatory use of the Law to humble them, they are nevertheless still justified. Forgiveness and renewal, mercy and transformation are inseparable. That is, forgiveness is not the terminal point of justification. Forgiveness is reception into life with God in the Church, and so leads to discipleship. Justification leads to discipleship (a distinctive Moravian theme) and the new obedience (a Lutheran term rooted in the Augsburg Confession, article 8).

To summarize: Lutherans and Moravians agree with and affirm one another's views of justification. This agreement and affirmation also includes our understanding of the Gospel.

3. The Sacraments

Explorations of our respective positions concerning the sacraments are both simple and complex. The simple or uncomplicated aspect is that we agree fully on there being two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and our theologies concerning those sacraments are in harmony, perhaps total agreement. This is not surprising since the Small Catechism has not only been used and cherished by Lutherans but has played a significant role historically in the Moravian Church. Both of us practice infant baptism and maintain the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Complexity enters through the emphases, explications, and expectations we have in these areas. Again, there is agreement and affirmation, but not uniformity. Again, we learned from one another.

A basic, far-reaching question is why we have sacraments at all? An obvious, profound answer is, "Because Christ commanded his followers to baptize and to share the Supper." Probing the response raises several factors.

First, we are commanded to administer and participate in the sacraments because we are human beings, not disembodied spirits. We need the sacraments. They are physical means through which God addresses us with the divine message of salvation. The sacraments are the Word of God in visible, tangible, even tasteable form. That Word is so intimately conjoined to the earthly elements of water, bread and wine that these elements are bearers of God's revelation of grace to men and women. In, with, and under the physical materials is God's Word - Christ - speaking, cleansing, nourishing, and renewing his people. Because we are bodily creatures, we need the Word in physical as well as spoken form.

Second, we are commanded to administer and participate in the sacraments because we are anxious sinners. The sacraments are God's Word of reconciling assurance, mercy and hope to persons who are in despair, have troubled consciences, and realize their unworthiness. Here the sacraments are active demonstrations of God's justifying grace. While we are yet sinners, helpless to merit divine favor, and alienated from God, God comes to us. The sacraments meet us in our futility and weakness to proclaim purpose and to offer us strength. The sacraments provide us with another means by which we can know of God's faithfulness, and they are an anchor for our faith.

Third, we are commanded to administer and participate in the sacraments because we need the external forms to structure our spiritual responses. The Reformation contained movements which advocated the jettisoning of physical forms in favor of direct or unmediated revelations through persons who claimed special inspirations and insights. The sacraments keep us earth-bound, furnish us with a framework which gives us a sense of order in order for the God who created the world to approach us with saving grace in the incarnate Lord.

Fourth, we are commanded to administer and participate in the sacraments because they offer us individual and communal identities. Both baptism and Eucharist name and designate us as members of the Body of Christ and heirs of the Kingdom through Jesus. The Lord who promises to be with us in all conditions knows us by name, by our unique beings, and so incorporates us into the death and resurrection of Jesus, cleanses us from sin, reveals Christ's presence, nourishes us, assures us of forgiveness, and empowers us to new life in the Spirit. While the Word of God in its other forms also testifies of these gifts, the sacraments convey these to us through creaturely means. A corollary of the same point is that the sacraments are means by which the Holy Spirit engages us as individuals and for mission in the world.

Behind the bare commandments to baptize and to share the supper is God's promise of grace. The sacraments are the Gospel in visible form. Through the Gospel, God evokes, sustains, and nourishes the faith by which we are united with Christ and receive his salvation. Another way to express the same idea is to say that through the Gospel, God enters into a personal relationship with us. The sacraments are visible means which form and express that relationship.

Since agreement concerning the sacraments is a major issue in ecumenical discussions, it is appropriate to continue our mutual affirmations further.

a. Sacrament of Baptism

Lutherans and Moravians agree with and affirm one another's positions that through baptism we are initiated into the Church, united to Christ by the Spirit, and enter into a covenantal relationship with God and our fellow Christians. Through baptism we undertake our life journeys in God's grace and to grow in faith through the Spirit. The covenantal dimensions of baptism are stated in our liturgies. At the beginning of the sacramental rite, a Moravian officiant says:

In grace God called and chose the people of Israel and established with them a covenant: I will be your God and you will be my people. In that relationship they were to be freed from sin and become a blessing to all. Then God came to us in Jesus Christ and fulfilled that covenant for all people. Through Christ's life, death, and resurrection, God made for us a new covenant of grace....

Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted baptism as the visible means of entry into the new covenant. Baptism is a gift of God. In this sacrament, through grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are united with Christ, are cleansed by his saving work, enter into the fellowship of the church, and are called to a life of faith and willing obedience.14

The Lutheran officiant begins,

In Holy Baptism our gracious heavenly Father liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity: in the waters of Baptism we are reborn children of God and inheritors of eternal life. By water and the Holy Spirit we are made members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. As we live with him and with his people, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.15

We also share understanding baptism to involve on-going growth in the Spirit. The Lutheran minister charges the parents of infants and young children who are to be baptized:

In Christian love you have presented these children for Holy Baptism. You should, therefore, faithfully bring them to the services of God's house, and teach them the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. As they grow in years, you should place in their hands the Holy Scriptures and provide for their instruction in the Christian faith, that, living in the covenant of their baptism and in communion with the Church, they may lead godly lives until the day of Jesus Christ.16

The Moravian minister asks:

Relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, do you promise to lead your children by prayer, instruction, and example toward that time when they can by grace confirm their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and commit themselves to the life and work of the church?17

Both rites provide for the congregation to welcome the newly baptized into the whole Church through the acclamation of the congregation.18

We noted that Moravians and Lutherans consider the rite of confirmation to be an affirmation of baptism. The respective liturgies echo the promises made by parents and sponsors at the baptism of infants and children.19

To summarize: Lutherans and Moravians agree with and affirm one another's views of the Sacrament of Baptism.

b. Sacrament of Communion

Moravians and Lutherans agree that Jesus calls the community of believers to be a communion in the Spirit, united in love, and sent to serve. Further, we agree that the Sacrament celebrates this communion, strengthens the bonds of mutual relationships, and promises that God will be with us as we live in the world. Still further, we agree that the Eucharist is "for you and for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given to us in the sacrament, for where there is forgiveness of sins, there are also life and salvation." (Small Catechism, VI).

From the 16th to the present century Lutherans have engaged in significant intra-church and ecumenical debates which have centered in the "Real Presence" of Christ in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine. The concerns expressed include whether or not there is a change of substance in the elements, the relation of ordained ministers to the Eucharist, the natures of the Christ who is present, whether the grace of God is diminished by stressing the recipients' faith, and communing with and/or under the auspices of Christians who do not hold the same theological views. Moravians, wary of past polemics and aware of the need for humans to be humble when describing God's ways, appreciate the concerns involved in discussing Christ's presence. Lutherans and Moravians agreed that in the Lord's Supper, Christ gives his body and blood according to his promise to all who partake of the elements. When we eat and drink the bread and the wine of the Supper with expectant faith, we thereby have communion with the body and blood of our Lord, and receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. In this sense, the bread and wine are rightly said to be Christ's body and blood which he gives to his disciples. We are united with Jesus in the Supper and with one another in the fellowship of his body, and we enjoy a foretaste of the great marriage feast of the Lamb. We joyfully confess the mystery of the Lord's Supper in the faith that the love of Christ knows no limits, acknowledging that no human theory can fully or finally account for it.

As anticipated, Moravian liturgies indicate the breadth and depth of their understandings of communion. This may be seen in the Unity's having not one general communion liturgy but four. Each of the four reflects distinct themes correlated to the Church Year.20 As anticipated, congregational singing and an emphasis on the relationship of the worshipers to one another are prominent. The opening rubric of all the communion services is "The congregation gives the right hand of fellowship, signifying oneness in Christ and the desire to be at peace with one another." The hymn which follows the handshake of peace in the communion liturgies for "Celebration of Christ's Coming" and "Celebration of the Resurrection" illustrates well the twin themes of the unity of believers and the covenantal relationship with God in Christ:

We covenant with hand and heart to follow Christ our Lord;
with world, and sin, and self to part, and to obey his word;
to love each other heartily, in truth and with sincerity,
and under cross, reproach, and shame, to glorify his name.21

The Moravian concern is not for the mode or extent of Christ's presence; they understand that Jesus is fully present with his promises and gifts in manners which God determines and actualizes through the Spirit. A distinctive Moravian contribution is the emphasis on the covenantal unity shared by God, the individual, the local fellowship of believers, and the whole Body of Christ. One hymn in the communion liturgy for atonement expresses it well for both Lutherans and Moravians:22

Own your congregation, gracious Paschal Lamb;
we are here assembled in your holy name;
look upon your people whom you by your blood
have in love redeemed and brought nigh to God.

You have kindly led us through our joys and tears;
now accept our praises and remove our fears.
Grant us all with gladness to obey your voice;
let your will and pleasure be our only choice.

May your church arrayed in the glorious dress
of the Lord and Savior's spotless righteousness,
be both now and forever by your blood kept clean,
and in all its members may your grace be seen.

To summarize: Moravians and Lutherans agree with and affirm one another's understandings of the Sacrament of Communion

The Mutual Affirmations indicate diversity within our agreements, yet the affirmations are extensive, profound, and unforced. Our summary of the summaries at this point is that Lutherans and Moravians agree with and affirm one another's understandings of the Gospel and Sacraments

10 Augsburg Confession, VI. Our liturgies reflect these views with remarkable similarities. The Moravian Book of Worship (Bethlehem and Winston-Salem: The Moravian Church in America, 1995) reflects phrasings which appear also in the Lutheran Book Of Worship (Minneapolis and Philadelphia: Augsburg Publishing House and Board of Publication, Lutheran Church in America, 1978). Our churches share the following almost verbatim: "Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen." (Moravian Book Of Worship, General Liturgy 3, pg. 21). See Lutheran Book Of Worship, "Most merciful God, we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen." (pgs. 56, repeated on pgs. 77 and 98.)

The dialoguers recognized that the biblical themes we used varied not in content but proportion. Moravians tend to look first to the life of Jesus as presented in the Gospel of John, and then they move toward the Pauline writings. Lutherans realized they usually began with Paul, especially the epistles to the Galatians, Romans and Ephesians. Both Lutherans and Moravians rely substantially on the Fourth Gospel for understanding Jesus as the Word of God.

11 A current theological discussion deals with the nuances of stating the principle as "justification by faith through grace" and "justification by grace through faith." The dialoguers did not enter discussions on that issue. For the sake of consistency and without making a commitment on either side of the question, this report uses "justification by faith through grace."

12 The hymn is 327 in the 1969 Hymnal of the Moravian Church. A modernized translation is in the new Moravian Book of Worship (Hymn 776) and a portion is used in one of the communion rituals (pg. 201). The "dress of righteousness" reflects Luther's view of the righteousness of God which is "alien" to humanity, see Luther's sermon on "The Two Kinds of Righteousness," (LW volume 31, pgs. 293-306.). Note also in the Lutheran Service Book and Hymnal, 376 in which verses 2-4 are by Zinzendorf and express the same ideas.

13 Martin Chemnitz, Examination Of The Council Of Trent, Part 1, translated by Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia, 1971, pgs. 473-474. Melanchthon also used the juridical or forensic model, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 4, section 304-305.

14 Moravian Book Of Worship, pg. 165.

15 Lutheran Book Of Worship, pg. 121.

16 Lutheran Book Of Worship, pg. 121.

17 Moravian Book Of Worship, pg. 166.

18 See Lutheran Book Of Worship, pgs. 124f and the Moravian Book Of Worship, pg. 169. In the Moravian liturgy the acclamation is through a hymn of welcome which also includes the motif of growth in grace and the congregation's pledge of love.

19 Moravian Book Of Worship, pgs. 170-174 and the Lutheran Book Of Worship, pgs. 198- 201.

20 The four themes are In Celebration of Christ's Coming, of the Atonement, of the Resurrection, and of the Holy Spirit. There are seven "General Liturgies." (General, Reconciliation, Adoration, Creation, Grace, Discipleship, and Celebration). A series of other liturgies related to the liturgical calendar and a number of topical liturgies in addition to a cluster of occasional services complete the roster of liturgies. The Lutheran liturgical tradition reflected in the Lutheran Book Of Worship has three different musical settings of what is basically the same service, Holy Communion, a number of formats tied to the times of worship (e.g., morning and evening prayer, compline), other types of services (e.g., Service of the Word, Responsive Prayer, etc.), and some occasional services.

21 The hymn "In Celebration of the Atonement" is:

Come, then, come, O flock of Jesus, covenant with him anew;
unto him, who conquered for us, pledge we love and service true;
let our mutual love be glowing; thus will the world plainly see
that we, as on one stem growing, living branches are in thee.

I come with joy to meet my Lord, forgiven loved, and free;
in awe and wonder to recall his life laid down for me.
As Christ breaks bread and bids us share, each proud division ends;
the love that made us, makes us one, and strangers now are friends.

© Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us | ELCA Home |