Authority in vocation

Gene Edward Veith, provost and professor of literature at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, the director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, and author of God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life, wrote the Truth and Consequences article in last month's Tabletalk magazine. Here are some gleanings from his article, which should be read in its entirety:

The doctrine of vocation, a term that is just the Latin word for “calling,” deals with how God works through human beings to bestow His gifts.

Luther called vocation a “mask of God.” He said that God milks the cows by means of the milkmaid.

And we too are masks of God in all of our multiple callings.

Before God, all vocations are equal. Our standing before Him is based solely on Jesus Christ, our sin-bearer, our redeemer, and our righteousness. But as we receive God’s grace in Christ, we are then sent into the world to live out our faith in the daily routines of ordinary life — that is, in our vocations.

The purpose of every vocation is to love and serve our neighbor. God does not need our good works, commented Luther, but our neighbor does. ... And God is in it all.

One problem people often have with vocation — that of others, as well as their own — is that some vocations exercise authority.

Authority in vocation must be exercised in love and service to the neighbor (see Matt. 20:26–27).

This self-sacrificial love is the foundation of Christian authority. It allows for no tyranny.

God is hidden in vocations that bear authority. But that puts the pressure on the human being who exercises that authority to act with God’s justice and grace.

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