The Divine Revelation of the Cross

The most important contribution that Luther had to offer was the teaching that God is only known through divine revelation. (Gonzalez, 32) The idea is that the Word of God is God the Son (Gonzalez, 30), and in contrast to this 'reason' is a dirty whore. (Gonzalez, 33) Luther thus put talk of the goodness of God, glory of God, and power of God in the same category (Gonzalez, 31), furthermore Luther's harsh treatment of this category derives form his view that people cannot strive for God and thus obtain a understanding of him (See Gonzalez, 31-32). Overall, the point to be made is that Luther had a very high view of divine revelation being essential to salvation, and this would greatly complement the doctrine of election and irresistible grace that Luther was known for.

For Luther salvation would have been completely the work of God, and thus the work of Christ on the cross could not be reproduced by men but instead it could be given through revelation. Thus, for Luther, the highest self disclosure of God is the divine revelation of the cross. (Gonzalez, 31-32) Luther then goes on to describe a two kingdom approach to looking at the world as one kingdom is bound by law and the other is bound by the gospel (See Gonzalez, 36), and the point is that Luther would thus be showing the difference between those that live with the divine revelation of the cross and those that live without it.

The point is that the greatest contribution of Luther is his recognition and promotion of the idea of the divine revelation of the cross because the concept categorized people and types of thinking according to expressed differences that would hallmark salvation. For example someone that was always having problems with the law and with clearly criminal conduct would not be characterized as being under the gospel of grace, and also someone that philosophized about God's good qualities would not necessarily be counted as saved either. Overall, in a world of corruption that Luther faced that counted everyone as a Christian, the theology of Luther in contrast taught the necessity of the divine revelation of the cross such that it really separated the sheep from the goats (so to speak).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity: The Reformation to the Present Day, vol. 2. San Francisco, California: Harper, 1985.