"Christian Realism" from Paul to Augustine to Luther

Paul's Two Ages

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul proclaims the gospel by contrasting the Age of Adam with the Age of Christ — an "old" age of sin and death with a "new" age of grace and life. On the one hand, Paul exhorts Christians to take joy in a life that has already been redeemed and renewed by a gracious God. On the other hand, he reminds believers that the world is not yet sinless, and that it cries out for justice and mercy. Christians live renewed in Christ, but the old Adam lives on in the world, and in us, as well.

For St. Paul, it is this paradoxical understanding of history and humanity that should shape a Christian's calling in — and into — the world. In faith, Christian saints of God are already reconciled to God in the cross of Christ. But they, and the world that God loves, are not yet sinless. Paul encourages believers to activate their faith by listening and responding lovingly to the world's cries for justice and mercy. Hearing and following this call, Christians lead lives of vocational service to their needy neighbor.

Augustine's Two Cities

Paul's "two ages" are echoed in Augustine's epochal description of "two cities," one centering in the force of world-love, the other centering in the force of God-love. The ongoing contention between these two mighty cities establishes the arena of Christian life and action. Augustine's exhortation, like Paul's, is paradoxical. Empowered by God's love in Christ, Christians are called into the world to actively participate in the moral transformation of human society and culture.

God's love permeates the city of God, and Christians who know and bear that love are called to permeate and transform the city of humankind. Augustine envisions Christian faith directing right reason, thereby reflecting God’s holy loving image in a world plagued by sin and selfishness. Through faithful engagement of Christians with the realities of the fallen world, virtues such as justice, wisdom, courage, temperance, and prudence make universal claims on the city of humankind. These universal claims direct both prophetic criticism of and hope for the city of humankind.

Luther's Two Kingdoms

In the late medieval church, Luther's reformation began by focusing on yet another version of the mighty contention which defined the life of a Christian. Luther was intimately familiar with the thought of both Paul and Augustine, whose conception of Christian vocation in the world profoundly shaped his own. Paul's two ages — Augustine's two cities — became Luther's "two kingdoms." The forces of God and Satan, of good and evil, are in mighty contention, and the faithful but imperfect Christian is always firmly implicated in both: simul justus et peccator — simultaneously redeemed in Christ and sinful in society.

"Always already redeemed," but "never free of sin" — this paradox establishes the dialogical ground of Christian Realism as Luther adapted the ideas of Augustine to his own age. Luther's intellectual and spiritual wrestling with Paul also led him to develop an even more robust and declericalized concept of Christian vocation. In his 1520 Appeal to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Luther wrote provocatively:

It is pure invention that pope, bishop, priests, and monks are called the spiritual estate while princes, lords, artisans and farmers are called the temporal estate. This is indeed a piece of deceit and hypocrisy. Yet no one need be intimidated by it, and for this reason: all Christians are truly of the spiritual estate, and there is no difference among them except that of office. Paul says in I Corinthians 12[:12-13] that we are all one body, yet every member has its own work by which it serves the others. This is because we are all Christians alike; for baptism, gospel, and faith alone make us spiritual and a Christian people.

Luther's insistence on the spiritual dignity of all useful work — indeed, of any useful occupation — was grounded in his robust understanding that God's sovereignty manifests itself in Creation as well as in Redemption. As Paul taught, God rules through both law and gospel, and we know God both as humanity's Creator and as humanity’s Redeemer. The spiritual dignity of work was thereby grounded not in any ecclesiastical warrant, but in its vocational status as useful and loving service to one’s neighbors in the world — to one's fellow creatures.

Therefore, just as those who are now called "spiritual," that is, priests, bishops or popes, are neither different from other Christians nor superior to them, except that they are charged with the administration of the word of God and the sacraments, which is their work and office, so it is with the temporal authorities. They bear the sword and rod in their hand to punish the wicked and protect the good. A cobbler, a smith, a peasant — each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops. Further, everyone must benefit and serve every other by means of his own work or office so that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, just as all the members of the body serve one another [I Cor. 12:14-26].

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Vocation and Education in the Lutheran Tradition