By Charles Lindquist
First published at wmpl.org/lutheran-108/
Republished with permission
The World Mission Prayer League is a “Lutheran community in mission,” as you will have discovered by now (Handbook, 13). Over the past few months we have reviewed the basic tenets of this faith identity: we are saved only by grace, only through faith, as we know it by the singular witness of Scripture.
This month we add an important concluding chapter. It is not another “sola,” exactly. We do not “confess” it, exactly – as we do, for example, the doctrine of the Trinity, or the work of Christ at Calvary. It is rather a nod to the very, very many things beyond this simple core of faith convictions. Most things lie beyond this simple core, in fact. And the confessions have a word for them. We call them “adiaphora.”
“Adiaphora” (ἀδιάφορα) is an ancient word that means, basically, “stuff that doesn’t matter.” It is a category for the “other stuff” of life – not clearly “good” or “bad,” not clearly “right” or wrong” – but simply indifferent. Our life of faith and service is full of things like these.
What kind of music should we use in church? Pipe organs? Saxophones? Maybe charangos? This is stuff that doesn’t matter. When and where should we meet to worship? Thursday evening in a living room? Sunday morning in the sanctuary? It doesn’t exactly matter. How about the liturgy we may use? How about the administrative structures we may invent – how we select and train our pastors, for example? A bit of order is certainly advisable; but in the end, our Confessions remind us, it doesn’t much matter. (See AC XV, Ap XV, FC SD X, SA III 15, etc.) [1]
Missionary communities like ours should be very clear about “stuff that doesn’t matter.” Hymnals don’t matter much; music doesn’t; architecture doesn’t. Should our pastors wear blue jeans or albs? It doesn’t matter a bit. Almost all of the cultural and linguistic shape of our ministry doesn’t matter much in the end. It is adiaphora.
We misunderstand the concept, however, if we suppose that it means “anything goes.” Where the cultural shape of our ministry undermines confidence in the pure grace of God in Jesus Christ, or discourages trusting faith in the One and Only Savior, or directs our attention to human efforts rather than Jesus Christ the Son of God – then something is seriously off track. This is stuff that matters very much indeed.
Let me give you an example: public witness to the forgiveness of sins. When given half an opportunity, Lutherans will declare the forgiveness of sins to one another. We proclaim it publically. We proclaim it with confidence. We call the practice “absolution.”
I have been to worship services characterized by lively singing, warm fellowship, impressive choreography, earnest teaching, and sincere appeals for deeper commitment – yet without witness whatsoever to the forgiveness of sins. The manner of singing (did they use charangos?) or appeals (did they speak from the pulpit?) may be considered adiaphora. It is “stuff that doesn’t matter.” Until it does.
If all we have is lively singing, then things may have gone off track. Does our teaching point our hearers to Jesus and his work on our behalf – or to our own efforts on his behalf? Does our fellowship point to the crucified and risen Lord – or simply a sense of togetherness? Do our services and singing provide a clear solution for sin? There is a clear solution for sin, as it turns out – and it does not consist of impressive choreography. The solution for sin is the grace of God in Jesus Christ, apprehended by faith alone. And it is delivered by the promises of God’s word, simply proclaimed and believed. If our worship activities do not somewhere, somehow, proclaim the grace of God in Jesus Christ, then something has gone off the rails. Pipe organs and albs, blue jeans and bongos, etc., (it doesn’t matter!) are no longer “adiaphora” if that’s all we’ve got – if they do not proclaim the grace of God for wayward sinners in Jesus Christ. You may call the practice “confession and absolution,” if you like. (Lutherans do: but it doesn’t matter.) It does matter, however, that we point the world to Jesus. To no one else. And to nothing less.
This is true for our entire Christian life of discipleship, mission and service. We should not get too excited (positively or negatively) about the cultural shape of our mission in the world. It will take many forms, employ many languages, adopt many cultures, and demonstrate creative cultural variety (if indeed we do things correctly). We will wear blue jeans sometimes, and sometimes albs. “We intend to be unmolested with these things,” Luther advised brilliantly (SA III,15,5).
Yet we affirm this creative variety in order always to witness to Jesus. Creative variety is not the goal of our life and service in the world. It is our goal to point people to grace, through faith, in Jesus alone.
This is why there is “other stuff” in life: “that I might by all means save some,” as St. Paul affirms (1 Corinthians 9:22). The “other stuff,” in itself, is neither here nor there. But the “saving by all means” bit – that is what we live for. That is what “the basic tenets” are all about. [2]
