My adiaphora are better than your adiaphora
The phrase “adiaphora” gets thrown around in the church more than a baseball in July. Everyone spouts it off. It doesn’t matter… it’s adiaphora… blah blah adiaphora blah. W
Adiaphora does matter. I point you toward this article by one of my professors, Dr. Charles Arand (PDF File: Page 48). The title of the article is “Not All Adiaphora Are Created Equal.” I won’t spend time summing up the article… you really need to read it yourself. I will give a short example for the sake of time. You have two Lutheran churches. Both have the same view regarding baptism. Both have baptismal fonts. Church one places it in the narthex where every person entering and leaving the sanctuary passes by it every single Sunday (my home church places it right in the front of the sanctuary so that all those coming up to receive the Lord’s Supper pass by it). Church two removes or “hides” their baptismal font when not in use.
The location of a baptismal font falls under “ceremony” and at face value, adiaphora. If you go to the Epitome of the Formula of Concord, article X, we read:
[7] We believe, teach, and confess also that no Church should condemn another because one has less or more external ceremonies not commanded by God than the other, if otherwise there is agreement among them in doctrine and all its articles, as also in the right use of the holy Sacraments, according to the well-known saying: Dissonantia ieiunii non dissolvit consonantiam fidei, Disagreement in fasting does not destroy agreement in faith.
Now do both churches confesss the same thing regarding Holy Baptism? Probably. However, does one church emphasize Baptism more by the placement of the font? I think so (it is possible for the pastor of the church that “hides” the font to make constant references to baptism in the life of the church and the pastor of the church with the font in the open to make few refernces).
To go a step further: are the use of screens forbidden or commanded by Scripture? No. However, can their use or their placement overshadow the Word and Sacraments and make them inappropriate for use in a church? Absolutely.
Out of this article by Dr. Arand, and some discussions here at the seminary and with various parish pastors has come my new phrase: “My adiaphora are better than your adiaphora.” Add a “Make my day” on the end and it’s perfect. Just because something is neither commanded or forbidden in Scripture doesn’t mean it’s okay to do. We have to be careful in all decisions made in the church. Certainly we must weigh these decisions against Scripture and decide whether our practice aligns with the Word. Beyond that we must carefully weigh our choices (even if all of them are “adiaphora”) to determine if they are appropriate for use in the Church of the Augsburg Confession.
BTW… I want to put the above phrase on a T-Shirt. Any takers?
About The Author
Indeed, “all things are lawful…but not all things are edifying…not all things build up.” Living in the freedom of the Gospel can be a tricky thing. Set free from Satan’s grips, we become bond-servants of Christ, that even those things of adiaphora may glorify Him alone. Lex orendi, lex credendi.
Shouldn’t it be “My adiaphora ARE better than yours…”? After all, it’s a plural.
My adiaphora is BETTER than yours now Sam. I’m in the ELCA now! My Lutheran Confessions final was all about adiaphora – it does matter, but how far. How do we keep Christ as the center with both law and gospel, yet still meet our brothers and sister in the faith where they are at. Is there universal truth among Lutherans?
Ginny… there is universal truth found in Holy Scripture and expounded upon in the Lutheran Confessions. The question we have to ask… is it found in Lutheranism today? And when I say “found”… I mean both in our stated beliefs and in our practices. I would argue that for many congregations they are not in the truth… and I would say that applies to all Lutheran church bodies.
The question you ask is a good one… and that is why we have to wrestle with the adiaphora question. The work of the church (preaching Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins and administering the sacraments) is hard and it is necessary!
Pastor Chyrst, you are right… I think. Changing it now…
Sam
Dr Arand rightly points out the historical context of the Confessions. I would like to point out that adiaphora did not take place outside of the historic Christian liturgy. For instance, to insist that praise bands, movie screens, etc with a wholesale rejection of the historic liturgy would not fall under adiaphora. From the Augsburg Confession to the Formula of Concord Lutherans clearly stated that their worship followed the historic liturgy.
my God, i believed you had been heading to chip in with some decisive insght in the finish there, not depart it
with ‘we go away it to you to decide’.