Posts tagged “David P. Scaer”

The Holy Spirit Is Always the Spirit of Christ (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on July 15th, 2011

This is part 3 of 3. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here. The work of the Holy Spirit revealed in the New Testament does not begin in Acts. Rather, we see the Holy Spirit chiefly in relation to Christ. Consider the following passages: “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’” (Luke 1.34f) “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened…

Categories: Theology

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The spirit of antichrist

Posted on June 15th, 2011

I’m giving a paper on the Holy Spirit tomorrow for the Concordia Catechetical Academy. While I’ve been working on this paper for awhile, in going over it again tonight I finally was able to articulate in one sentence what I think is a major theme in Lutheran theology. This is clearly present in our confessions, although not stated in quite this way: “Any spirit that comes apart from Christ is the spirit of antichrist.” I finally realized that is the corollary to the title of my paper, adapted from David Scaer’s writings on the Holy Spirit and the means of grace: “The Holy Spirit Is Always the Spirit of Christ.”

Categories: Theology

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Retarded Charismatics

Posted on May 29th, 2010

Warning: This will offend everyone. Go away now if you take yourself too seriously. Came across this hilarious Scaer quote: Musicians are just a retarded form of charismatics. They’re so happy but they don’t know why. There’s an entire catalog of the Proverbs of Scaer here. Warning: If you didn’t have David Scaer for a seminary professor, none of this will make sense, and you will be offended. Get over it.

Categories: Humor, Theology

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When do you genuflect in the Creed?

Posted on January 20th, 2010

Not everyone genuflects (or, alternatively, bows) at the same place in the Creed. My practice has followed what Dr. David Scaer insisted was correct, that of genuflecting at the et homo factus est. Others genuflect/bow earlier, I suspect so that they can stand at the crucifixus (I stand at the et resurrexit), which is sometimes explained as being a confession that the crucifixion is the beginning of Christ’s exaltation/glorification. I get the point theologically, but as a practical matter I’ve never bought it. Plus, if there seems to be a tradition that doesn’t contradict the gospel, then we should keep it. At least, that’s how I read the Confessions. Shortly after Christmas I asked my friend, Rev. Charles McClean, about it, since he is…

Categories: Liturgy

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Scaer on "Two Matthews"

Posted on September 20th, 2008

Tomorrow is St. Matthew’s day, and one has to rejoice in the delicious sarcasm of my former professor, Dr. David P. Scaer: Out of deference to critical scholarship, but without accepting all its conclusions, we are compelled to identify two “Matthews”: one, the disciple of Jesus, the apostle; and the other, the evangelist, who they say wrote the gospel forty years later. The second “Matthew” did such a good job in impersonating the first “Matthew,” that no one back then could tell the difference. But, as is customary with scholars, they know more than those closest to the situation.

Categories: Humor, Theology

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Faith as pure receptivity

Posted on August 21st, 2008

Dr. David Scaer makes a point that should have been obvious to me, but wasn’t, in his piece “Flights from the Atonement” in the latest Concordia Theological Quarterly (July 2008): by denying the ability of infants to have faith, they thus deny justification by faith. Children who have not yet reached the maturity to make a rational decision for Christ are saved on account of their human birth, not the birth from above (John 3). The following is from pp197f, with my emphasis added: Like Roman Catholics, the Reformed do not see justification as the one chief doctrine. Evangelicals who stand in the Reformed tradition may share with Lutherans a verbally identical definition, but in understanding faith as a conscious rational decision of which…

Categories: Theology

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