_13_The Purpose of Christian Theology for Man
The purpose which theology is to accomplish in man after the Fall is to save men from eternal damnation, incurred by every member of the human race, or, to state it positively, to lead men to eternal salvation (
, salus aeterna). This purpose is stated by St. Paul when he says (1 Tim. 4:16): “In doing this [taking heed unto the doctrine, performing the office of a Christian teacher] thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” So also Jesus: “Every scribe … is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 13:52). Because of this high purpose of theology the ministry of the Christian teacher is the most important office on earth, the “good work” (
) par excellence (1 Tim. 3:1).
The theologian must continually be on his guard lest he entertain false notions as to the purpose of his theological activity. The purpose of theology is not the spread of culture or the establishment of civil righteousness — though Christianity is the one thing that really makes good citizens and promotes true culture. Nor is it the purpose of theology to “satisfy the intellectual craving of the human mind” or to enrich human knowledge in general — though theology does answer from Scripture many questions which baffle all human wisdom and research.150
We can well understand why Luthardt would fault the old Lutheran theologians for “relating theology immediately to salvation,” since from his point of view this is “scientifically incorrect.” Luthardt represents a theology which has lost sight of the true aim of theology; his theology aims to supplant faith with understanding and therefore insists on deriving the Christian doctrine not from Scripture, but from the Ego of the dogmatizing subject. Such a theology is, of course, not related to salvation “immediately.” In fact, it has no relation whatever to man’s salvation. It would be a terrible situation if our salvation depended in the least degree on a theology which is determined to speak not out of the mouth of the Lord, but out of the mouth of the theologian. And certainly this sort of theology cannot claim that its “inner life, its rights and strength are lodged” in the Christian Church.151 A theology which does not want to speak out of the mouth of the Lord and have as its direct aim eternal salvation has no place in the Christian Church and has forfeited its right to be heard. It is an exotic plant, not one which the heavenly Father has planted (Matt. 15:13). In the Church only God’s Word (
) should be heard, and that for the purpose of saving men (1 Pet. 4:11; 1 Tim. 1:4; 6:3). From Meisner’s Philosophia Sobria Walther quotes the pointed statement: “The theologian who does not continually pursue this purpose and does not make the salvation of men the objective of all his study and teaching, does not deserve to be called a true theologian.”152
The old theologians define the purpose of theology quite well when they say: “The subject of the operation of theology is homo peccator in so far as he is to be led to eternal salvation” (Baier, I, 40). Also society or the State concerns itself with the homo peccator, not for the purpose of saving souls, but only for the purpose of protecting by means of temporal punishment the bodily life and temporal goods of its members against the outbursts of the wickedness inherent in human nature. Theology, however, is not concerned with the civil punishment to be meted out to the evildoer. Rather it is the business of the theologian and of the Christian Church, through the preaching of the Law, to convince the homo peccator of his guilt before God and of the certainty of the eternal punishment to be meted out to the transgressor and, through the preaching of the Gospel, to bring him the remission of sins and eternal salvation.
And this ultimate purpose of theology [finis ultimus], the salus aeterna, can be achieved in only one way. Eternal salvation is obtained only through faith in Christ, through faith in the Gospel of the grace of God in Christ, as we read in John 3:36: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Hence the intermediate purpose of theology (finis intermedins) is, primarily, the creation and preservation of faith in Christ. Rom. 1:5 names this as a finis theologiae. Paul received his apostleship “for obedience to the faith.”
Sanctification and good works, of course, is another objective of theology. Theology teaches the believers to “be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8) — not as though good works were the cause or prerequisite or means of obtaining the forgiveness of sins and salvation (those who teach such a thing are cursed by the Apostle, Gal. 1:8), but because good works are a result and effect of the faith which has obtained the forgiveness of sins and salvation without works. In this way the theologian achieves both the right quality and a gratifying quantity of good works.