Thesis 51 We must live our lives coram Deo.
Our fathers in the Reformation were masters of communication. They were in a battle for the hearts and minds of both scholars and the less educated. Their movement progressed through the careful use of several succinct, but easily remembered phrases, usually coined in Latin. Of course we are familiar with the five solas of the Reformation- sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solo Christo and soli Deo Gloria. These highlighted the central theological convictions of the movement. The entire movement expressed its own understanding of its place in history with this Latin phrase- Post Tenebras Lux, which is translated “after darkness, light.” They saw their labors as an attempt to shine biblical light on the critical issues of the day, which had been obscured by centuries of ecclesiastical accretions.
While these phrases were significant and effective, none may have been more so than this phrase used often by Martin Luther himself. He called believers to live all their lives “coram Deo.” Coram Deo means “before the face of God” or “in the presence of God.” The Reformation moved forward with strength and courage because men and women of God went through their days remembering, like Joshua before them, that God was with them, wherever they went (Joshua 1:9).
The Reformation wisely emphasizes the transcendence of God. It not only accepts but delights in God’s absolute sovereignty. We affirm that He has determined all that has come to pass, that He has ordained all of history, from the rise and fall of nations to a fall leaf drifting to the ground. He is so sovereign. When we embrace this reality, however, we face a corollary temptation. We are tempted to believe that since God has set all of history in motion that He is aloof, unconnected. We become practical deists. This is turn encourages us to become practical secularists.
Long before Luther remembered that he walked the earth before the face of God, God the Holy Spirit inspired David to make much the same point. David sang/prayed, “Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there!” (Psalm 139:7 and 8). Our response to this reality isn’t supposed to be fear. God is not declaring Himself to be a celestial Big Brother. He is instead communicating what we so often forget, that He is our Father who art in heaven. That is, we live our lives before the Father, who loves us fully in Christ. This reality emboldens us for service. It focuses our attention on that which matters. It calls upon us all to see the world around us not as an arena where God is at work, but as the very work of His hands. We remember when we walk coram Deo that all that we are, and all that we have is His, that it all exists to for the sake of His glory.
This is our Father’s world. We spend our days walking in it, seeking to exercise dominion under His rule. We will do this more faithfully the more faithfully we remember that He is with us always, even to the end of the age.