Atheism and Salvation Part Five (5/10) Luther The Lutheran Concept of God To Luther [1], God does not appear as the first cause or subsisting Being, an object of intellect, the first and most perfect being whose existence is affirmed through a rational process starting from the sensible effects of His creative activity. Despite Luther's acceptance of the biblical God—wise, provident, omnipotent, creator of heaven and earth, just and merciful, incarnated in Jesus Christ—his Lutheran concept of God is undeniably salvific. However, it struggles to detach itself from an emotional veneer to reveal itself in its intelligibility. Luther leaves implicit the inductive and inferential rational process, hiding beneath a sentimental and antirational fideism. Explicitly, Luther seems to approach God with a "faith" that replaces reason corrupted by original sin—a faith not accepting the Word of God on the authority of the Church but a spiritually inexpressible sense of the terrifying or consoling presence of God. For Luther, the Word of God, rather than being the object of faith, is an expression of faith as communion with Christ in the power of the Spirit.
Part Five - Atheism and Salvation
Part Five - Atheism and Salvation
Part Five - Atheism and Salvation
Atheism and Salvation Part Five (5/10) Luther The Lutheran Concept of God To Luther [1], God does not appear as the first cause or subsisting Being, an object of intellect, the first and most perfect being whose existence is affirmed through a rational process starting from the sensible effects of His creative activity. Despite Luther's acceptance of the biblical God—wise, provident, omnipotent, creator of heaven and earth, just and merciful, incarnated in Jesus Christ—his Lutheran concept of God is undeniably salvific. However, it struggles to detach itself from an emotional veneer to reveal itself in its intelligibility. Luther leaves implicit the inductive and inferential rational process, hiding beneath a sentimental and antirational fideism. Explicitly, Luther seems to approach God with a "faith" that replaces reason corrupted by original sin—a faith not accepting the Word of God on the authority of the Church but a spiritually inexpressible sense of the terrifying or consoling presence of God. For Luther, the Word of God, rather than being the object of faith, is an expression of faith as communion with Christ in the power of the Spirit.