Luther on Vocation

by Gustaf Wingren

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2004

Overview

In this classic text, noted theologian Gustaf Wingren provides a comprehensive analysis of Luther’s writings and teaching on the doctrine of vocation, elucidating the very practical and essential nature of Luther’s thought on the complex concept of vocation.

Contents

Top Highlights

“But such persons can hardly be found; the very fact that one vows for all time shows that he expects thus to win something from God.⁵ In a sermon in his Kirchenpostille, on 1 Corinthians 7:20, Luther raises the direct question as to what it means to have a vocation. He answers that you occupy a station (Stand), you are husband or wife, son or daughter, boy or girl. Then he stresses the greatness of the responsibilities involved in these external relationships; if one had four heads and ten hands he would still be unable to fulfil them all. It is striking for example that being a chaste and moderate young person is part of one’s vocation as son or daughter.⁶ Certainly the Ten Commandments are conceived as applicable under the term Beruf.” (Pages 2–3)

“The human being is self-willed, desiring that whatever happens shall be to his own advantage. When husband and wife, in marriage, serve one another and their children, this is not due to the heart’s spontaneous and undisturbed expression of love, every day and hour. Rather, in marriage as an institution something compels the husband’s selfish desires to yield and likewise inhibits the egocentricity of the wife’s heart. At work in marriage is a power which compels self-giving to spouse and children. So it is the ‘station’ itself which is the ethical agent, for it is God who is active through the law on earth.” (Page 6)

“If I find myself an occupant of some of these life stations which serve the well-being of others, I must not entertain the slightest doubt of God’s pleasure, but believe the gospel. The significant thing is not whether I enter such a station as one who is sinful and worthless. The issue is whether the ‘station’ itself is sinful or not.¹⁰ The sin of the person himself is judged and forgiven in heaven, where there is no question of station, office and vocation, but only about the heart. On earth, on the other hand, one must give thought to office and station, not to the sin of the heart.” (Page 4)

Product Details

• Title: Luther on Vocation
• Author: Gustaf Wingren
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Print Publication Date: 2004
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Luther, Martin, 1483-1546; Vocation; Vocation › Christianity
• ISBNs: 9781592445615, 1592445616
• Resource ID: LLS:LUTHERONVOCATION
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:24:27Z