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In this episode, Brett, Brian, and Jason continue their examination of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed by doing a Bible study on Isaiah 53. This chapter is at the heart of the Old Testament’s proclamation of the Gospel.
Being Lutheran Podcast Episode #61 – Isaiah 53
What is the theological offense of using the terms Jesus is my Savior, but not my Lord? Is carnal Christian a better term or”baby Christian” in light of this verse. Heb.5:12 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principals of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food…..”?
Josie
What is the theological offense of using the terms Jesus is my Savior, but not my Lord? Is carnal Christian a better term or”baby Christian” in light of this verse. Heb.5:12 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principals of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food…..”?
Josie
Sorry the comment got sent partially written. I hope you can understand the question.
As far as the phrase “Jesus is my Savior, but not my Lord” is concerned, it’s mostly due to the fact that Jesus is already Lord whether we live by that truth or not. We don’t elect Jesus to lordship in our lives by our piety or holy living.
There is some usefulness to talking about Christian maturity, but I am always cautious in letting things develop into different classes of Christians. The “baby” Christian is just as saved as the mature Christian who has been living out their faith for decades.
As far as the topic of maturity is concerned, I believe we address this directly on upcoming episodes (assuming you’re at around episode #61 since that’s the one you commented on).
So it comes to making sure that we understand correctly that saving faith is saving faith no matter where we are at in maturing that faith. We are saved. Eating milk or meat is another aspect of our Christian walk. Just as a baby is as much a human being as a full grown man is. But their level of maturity is different, so the type of food they take in is age appropriate.
Yes, I think that’s an excellent way to put it. The analogy I have used in teaching my congregation is that of language. When a child is just learning to read and write, it involves a lot of rote repetition using the ABCs and learning the basic rules of grammar. But as the child matures in their use of language, they are still using the ABCs to construct words and using the basic rules of grammar to construct sentences – they are just using them in more mature and artful ways.
So it goes with the Gospel. Sometimes for a child or “baby Christian”, the Gospel looks like, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” But as we grow and mature in our faith, we appreciate the intricacies of the Gospel as it is preached to us in artful ways from the pages of Scripture. We appreciate that David and Goliath is teaching us about imputation. We understand how entire narrative of Joseph preaches Jesus to us. We nod in understanding as Paul teaches us in Romans that Abraham was credited as righteous.
It’s the same Gospel, just expressed in different ways.