Part 2

What is a Theologian?

We have seen that Walther understands theology to mean the competence to lead sinners to salvation by means of the Word of God. How, then, is this competence acquired, or: how does one become a theologian?

Walther has repeatedly answered this question in his writings. He also dwelled on this question at length whenever he had to answer it for theological students in the lecture hall.¹

For Walther, theology is a wisdom from above. Not merely in the sense that the theologian derives everything he teaches solely and exclusively from divine revelation, but precisely in the sense that the ability to recognize divine revelation, to communicate it, and thereby to lead to salvation, is solely an effect wrought by the Holy Spirit. Just as no human can invent the subject matter with which theology deals through speculation, so too can no human bring into himself the ability to treat and utilize this subject matter correctly through human power and art, perhaps by following a specific “scientific method.” The theological habitus, says Walther, “is a supernatural one, one that cannot be attained through human strength and human diligence.”² “There are certain natural gifts which serve the office: acumen, eloquence, etc. But these do not belong to the actual gifts of office that make a minister of the church. Paul lists these in 1 Cor. 12 and Rom. 12: wisdom, knowledge, faith, discernment of spirits, prophecy, teaching, exhortation, governing, etc.” The Holy Spirit, who has revealed divine truth in Scripture, must also create through this truth the instruments which can recognize it and communicate and apply it to others for their salvation. “The Holy Spirit alone makes Doctors of Theology,” Walther remarks on Luther’s well-known saying, regarding how Doctors of Holy Scripture, in distinction from “Doctors of Arts, of Medicine, of Law, of Sentences,” etc., come into being.³

Walther therefore also declares that Luther's sentence “oratio, meditatio, tentatio faciunt Theologum” provides “the only correct theological methodology.”⁴ In his Pastoral Theology he remarks on p. 6: “To attain the theological habitus… those three things are especially necessary which are encompassed in the well-known Lutheran axiom: Oratio, meditatio, tentatio faciunt theologum.”

Oratio! That is, humble and earnest prayer that God through His Holy Spirit may give us the right understanding of Scripture unburdened by our reason. For “although the grammatical sense of Scripture is clear, yet the Holy Spirit must open up the living and saving understanding of Scripture,” and the “beginning” of all theology is to despair of all one’s own wisdom, to subject one’s own mind unconditionally to the Word of God, and to desire to obtain all knowledge in spiritual matters from the Word of God. But no human can do this according to his natural disposition. Thus, it is important to persist in oratio. And the greater his scholarship and natural talent, the more this is true. “Proficient knowledge and rich gifts are something splendid. But it is also not to be forgotten: the greater the knowledge and gifts, the greater the danger that one trusts oneself in everything, even in theology.”

Meditatio! That is the persistent study of Scripture, “immersion in the divine Word,” “to engage with God’s Word in all sorts of ways,” according to Luther: “not only in the heart, but also externally, to always drive and rub the spoken word and literal words in the book,” as one rubs aromatic herbs so that they give off their exquisite fragrance, Walther adds.

That tentatio belongs to “theological methodology” is stated, for example, in 2 Cor. 1:3 ff. When Luther says: “As soon as God’s Word takes root in you, the devil will visit you, make you a true Doctor, and through his temptation teach you to seek and love God”s Word.” Walther adds that this is indeed “a strange doctorate.” But God obsesrvers this way; “therefore, no student of theology should be troubled if God sends him all sorts of temptations.” He wants to adhere to this “methodology,” although he is aware that many now smile at it as insufficient for our time.

However, the oratio, meditatio, tentatio of which Luther speaks are found only in one who is regenerated. Thus Walther further insists most emphatically that only he can become a theologian who has first become a true Christian. He writes:⁵ “No unbeliever, no natural man, no servant of sin, no un-Christian, no hypocrite, but only a believer, one born again, one sanctified, in short, only a true Christian can be a true theologian; just as the Christian presupposes the human, so the theologian presupposes the Christian, and just as faith includes knowledge, so theology includes faith.” “Holy Scripture” — he continues — “declares this clearly and distinctly. The Apostle, speaking of the ministry of the Word, exclaims in 2 Cor. 2:16: ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ and answers: ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament’ 2 Cor. 3:5, 6. As certainly, then, as the sufficiency for the ministry is solely a gift bestowed by God, so certainly also is the theological habitus, which alone enables one to carry out the ministry, solely a gift bestowed by God. The holy Apostle says further: ‘But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God’ (οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος = does not recognize and accept what is of the Spirit of God, or the revealed mysteries of faith), ‘for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things’ (1 Cor. 2:14, 15). As certainly, then, as a natural man does not understand spiritual things, nor can he judge rightly concerning them, so certainly also can a natural man (ψυχικὸς ἂνθρωπος) not be a true theologian, who above all is concerned with judging spiritual things. Only a true spiritual man (πνευματικὸς) can also be a true theologian. Indeed, an unconverted person can also carry theology as doctrine in his understanding and memory, as in a book, and also communicate it to others; but, although he can therefore also convert others, he is, by virtue of his head-knowledge and his lip-confession, as little a true theologian himself as a book containing the doctrine of theology in letters; he is nothing but, as the Apostle says of such, ‘sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal,’ 1 Cor. 13:1. While he teaches others the pure truth unto salvation, it is to himself a mystery not yet unsealed, nor yet understood, yes, foolishness.⁶ While he preaches to others, he himself becomes a castaway, 2 Cor. 9:27. He does not hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, 1 Tim. 3:9. He still belongs to the world, such that he cannot receive the Spirit of truth.”

“Godliness” — Walther remarks elsewhere concerning the same subject — “is not merely advantageous for the theologian, but a conditio sine qua non.” He refers to 1 Tim. 3:1–7 and Tit. 1:5–9, where in the description of a true theologian “the gifts of office and sanctification are taken together.” In line with “apt to teach” there is “sober, temperate, orderly, hospitable.” Herein Walther agrees with the Pietists against some later “Orthodox” that there is no enlightenment without conversion.

Walther then goes on to show that the individual activities incumbent upon the minister of the Church can only be performed by one standing in living faith. “It is indeed,” he says, “an exceedingly important doctrine of our Church that the Word of God is living and powerful in itself and does not first become living and powerful through the piety of those who present it. But it does not follow from this that it is indifferent whether someone who administers the preaching office is pious.” “Especially because of the right and very necessary distinction between the Law and the Gospel in preaching and in private pastoral care, it is indispensably necessary that the preacher himself carry heartfelt faith within him and himself have had spiritual experience.” In his Pastoral Theology he quotes Luther’s words:⁷ “I experience it in myself, and also see it daily in others, how difficult it is to separate the doctrine of the Law and the Gospel from each other. The Holy Spirit must here be master and teacher, or no man on earth will understand or be able to teach it. Therefore, no Pope, no false Christian, no enthusiast can separate these two from each other.” Beside this, he noted the words: “The doctrine de discrimine legis et evangelii can indeed be correctly grasped in one’s understanding without living faith, but in its application one then goes astray.” Furthermore, the unconverted preacher, who in the depths of his heart seeks only bread, honor, and a good living, but not the salvation of the souls entrusted to him, will refrain from properly rebuking sins, because he fears thereby to make enemies and thus to lose the good which he covets. “The unconverted preacher also dare not draw too distinct a picture of a true or false Christian from God’s Word, for he must fear that his hearers will say: ‘You yourself are not like that!’ or: ‘That is exactly how you yourself are!’ An unconverted preacher lacks, faithfulness, zeal, daily care, and true enthusiasm in preaching. No office has such great temptations to unfaithfulness as the preaching office. The pastor can rest for six days if he wants, and sometimes the congregation likes it if their preacher does not come too close. If he has good gifts, he can, despite his laziness, still preach in such a way that the people imagine they are hearing something wonderful. The unconverted preacher then chooses only subjects that he can easily handle, and avoids difficult ones, even if their treatment were ever so necessary.”

As a theological teacher, Walther therefore was always concerned not only to present Christian doctrine clearly, but also to reach the hearts and consciences of the students. Most of his students will testify that they experienced rich advancement in their spiritual lives through Walther’s theological instruction. His entire instruction was didactic and edifying at the same time. Some of his students first came to a living faith in Christ in his theological lecture hall.

However, as much as Walther, on the one hand, emphasized and repeatedly reminded the students of theology that “only one standing in grace, only one born again” can become a theologian, so on the other hand he also warned against the abuse which sects and enthusiasts make with this truth. He said: “One can also abuse the doctrine that theology is a habitus practicus θεόσδοτος,” namely, to disdain thorough theological study, or at least to excuse laxity and indolence in study. “The Methodists think that as soon as they have converted, they can now also be preachers.” Every theologian is a Christian, but not every Christian is a theologian. The theological habitus is bestowed by God alone, but by way of diligent study. Walther quotes, “Pastoral Theology” p. 6, the words of L. Hartmann: “What Tertullian once rightly said of Christians, that Christians are not born,⁸ but made, that is also true with respect to faithful ministers and teachers of the Church, who need long preparation and great study if they are to enter skillfully into such an exalted office. For here mere self-discipline or earnestness and holiness of life do not suffice, rather theological knowledge is also required.” To this Walther remarks: “Only those born again can become theologians, but theology is not, like spiritual life, imparted to someone in a moment.” As Walther therefore strove for the most thorough theological training, precisely because of the peculiar circumstances in which the Church of the Reformation here finds itself,⁹ so he also sought to spur the students on to the utmost diligence in their studies. He used to point out to them that men like Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov, indeed even Luther, became great theologians “not through their great gifts, but through the iron diligence which they applied.” Among notes available to the writer of this, there is also the following, which we reproduce here unchanged in its aphoristic form, as it clearly reveals the thoughts which Walther elaborated to the students: “Be economical with time — read with pen in hand — make excerpts — study systematically — divide the day and the week — read the best works — do not read superficially — repeat everything from time to time — index verum [make indices] — first necessaria [the necessary], then utilissima [the most useful], then utilia [the useful] — with theological interest — not to study for the examination — do not study inutilia [the useless] at all.” Walther warned prospective theologians against being modest in their goals. No one should allow himself to be led by the thought that he is only moderately gifted, and so to be content from the outset with mediocre achievements. “To be modest in one’s goal is a sinful modesty.”

This is how Walther understood it when he said: “Theology is the habitus, wrought by the Holy Spirit, drawn from the Word of God by means of prayer, study, and tribulation.” We cannot give up this definition. It is the Lutheran one, drawn from God’s Word. The danger now lies further away from us that we would fall into enthusiastic ways and think that every Christian is immediately capable and called to teach publicly. Even the sects have in recent years at least partially abandoned this delusion and insist on theological training. But it must also remain present to us through God’s grace that mere training does not yet produce theologians, that rather the foundation and beginning of all theological knowledge and ability is living faith in Christ, genuine conversion. Only young men standing in spiritual life are capable of studying theology; only pastors with living faith are competent to administer their office. The orthodox Lutheran Church in this country still has a great shortage of pastors. This shortage is also not likely to decrease in the near future, but to become even greater. But the need can never become so great as to contradict the biblical and Lutheran principle that only converted Christians should and can be true, by allowing openly unconverted persons to be called into the preaching office. That the orthodox Lutheran synods of this country can look back on such a blessed ministry is due not least to the fact that God has blessed them with pure doctrine and also with a ministry of living faith. If God preserves and grants them this gift also in the future, then their blessed fellowship will remain and prosper. If we were to lose this gift through our ingratitude and carelessness, if we were to receive a ministry that is largely spiritually dead, then the fresh, joyful activity in our fellowship would soon cease, and the external falling away from right doctrine would also soon follow.

Endnotes

¹ If no explicit printed sources are given for the following quotations, then unprinted notes in Walther’s hand have been used.

² Pastoral theology p. 3.

³ Baier, ed. Walther, Proleg. Cap. I, P. 69.

⁴ Lehre und Wehre XIV, p. 149.

⁵ Lehre und Wehre XIV, 265.

⁶ "Perhaps without their realizing it, the gospel is an offense and an annoyance to all servants of sin."

⁷ E. A. 19, 238.

⁸ Namely “through natural birth.”

⁹ “Nowhere is such thorough knowledge needed as here in America, because of the sects.”