incurvatus in se

here is grouchy old george forell, one of my teachers in the faith, on sin, since i brought it up. it is so profoundly countercultural if one really understands it.

"It is Luther’s emphasis on the utter helplessness of human beings apart from God which is the scandal of his theology for modern men and women. He writes: “Free choice without the grace of God is not free at all, but immutably the captive and slave of evil, since it cannot of itself turn to the good.”15 Again, the liberum arbitrium, free will or free choice, “is plainly a divine term (divinum nomen), and can be properly applied to none but the Divine Majesty alone; for he alone can do and does...whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth.”16 Christian liberty is not freedom of choice or freedom of the will but it means instead to have been justified as a sinner. It means to be freed from the curse of sin, liberated from the obsession with the self, from being turned into the self (incurvatus in se), and instead, having become absolutely dependent on God. In Paul’s terms, it is having become “a slave of Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:1) which is a phrase utterly abhorrent to contemporary theology and religiosity."

see philippians 2:5-11

anon, and +peace

Comments

[Michael Kunz]

OK, Christian. So now I'm hooked on your blog. That's cool.

Anyway, your comments from Forell (also one of my favorites) brings to mind Luther's premise (and I hope I'm getting him right) that a work/achievement is not a good work/achievement unless done from faith, i.e., done as response to God's grace through Christ than as attempt to earn God's good favor. Forell's comments about Christian freedom/slavery made me think of that.

The guy I like to quote on this is Bob Bertram, who used to teach at Concordia Seminary, then Seminex, then LSTC (Lutheran School of Theology-Chicago), who'd talk about the "get-to" as opposed to the "got-to". Freed from sin, we get to serve/love Christ and our neighbor; while under the law we feel as if we've got to do it.

I tend to think and talk about it as opportunity as opposed to obligation.

The life of Christian freedom is full of opportunities of faith and love. The life of incurvatus in se is full of obligation.

Praying on the hours, when seen as opportunity, is within Christian liberty. Praying on the hours, when seen as obligation, is incurvatus in se.

I'm seeing the praying on the hours concept as a great opportunity. Thanks for sharing it.

Peace,

Michael Kunz

[Jeni Grangaard]

I'm just pretty stoked that I googled the correct spelling of "incurvatus in se" and your blog came up. I might not credit you in the concord article, but when (if) you read it, you can smile and know that you helped create greatness.