1. Experience, all chronicles, and the Holy Scriptures as well, teach us this truth: the less law, the more justice; the fewer commandments, the more good works. No well-regulated community ever existed long if at all, where there were many laws. Therefore, before the ancient law of Moses, the patriarchs of old had no prescribed [...]
PSALM FIRST. THE Psalmist begins by extolling the blessedness of the righteous, who is first described negatively, as turning away from the counsels of the wicked, ver. 1, and then positively, as having his thoughts engrossed with the Divine law, ver. 2. He proceeds next to delineate under a pleasant image the prosperity which attends [...]
The basic premise or window to a missiological reading of the Lutheran Confessions is the programmatic statement in the Preface to the Book of Concord where the fathers, united in their efforts to lay down foundational statements for the con- cord of the Lutheran Church, raise their vision universally and jointly profess “to do and [...]
Augustine (354-430): “Having now to the best of my ability, and as I think sufficiently, replied to the reasonings of this author, if I be asked what is my own opinion in this matter, I answer, after carefully pondering the question, that in the Gospels and Epistles, and the entire collection of books for our [...]
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Download: .doc/.pdf From Luther’s Prayers Eternal God, you do love me and ask that with all my heart I rely on you in all things. It is your earnest desire to be my God, and I must regard you as [...]
If God has commanded fellowship with the orthodox Church — and that is the case, as we have seen — then this fellowship is our duty, a duty under all circumstances, and a duty for every Christian. God has, under no circumstances, given us a dispensation from the First Commandment, and has said to no [...]
VERSE 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. If we carefully weigh the words of the Apostle we perceive that he does not speak of doctrinal faults and errors, but of much lesser faults by which a person is [...]
Ver. 22. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. For having some great conceit of themselves, and not enduring to go the way which God had commanded them, they were plunged into the reasonings of senselessness (1 manuscript διανοίας). And then to show and give in outline, what a rueful surge it was, and [...]
Ambrose (c. 339-97): “Thus I do not have the wherewithal to enable me to glory in my own works, I do not have the wherewithal to boast of myself, and so I will glory in Christ. I will not glory because I have been redeemed. I will not glory because I am free of sins, [...]
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Download: .doc/.pdf From Luther’s Prayers Dear God, in this command you teach me to keep your name excellent, bright, and holy. I am not to curse, swear, lie, or deceive by it. Nor shall I seek my own honor and [...]
PSALM CXXXI. The people of the Lord should be free from all high-flying thoughts and ambitious projects and enterprises, and in childlike humility should expect their salvation only from him, so shall they be safe.The national reference of the Psalm is clear from ver. 3, where Israel is addressed. Accordingly it must also be Israel, [...]
Romans IV. 1, 2 What shall we then say that Abraham, our father as pertaining to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory; but not before God. He had said (5 manuscripts εἶπεν), that the world had become guilty before God, and that all had sinned, and that boasting was excluded [...]
Some time ago we published comparisons of the ELCA – LCMC and LCMC – NALC. The following comparison document lays out some of the differences between the ELCA and the LCMS. Download .pdf Comparison of the ELCA and the LCMS: The following is meant to be a primer to some of the differences that exist [...]
by Herman Sasse Dear Brothers in the Office! The events in the church of this year now passing, particularly the great ecclesiastical sessions of Willingen (World Mission Council), Hannover (Lutheran World Federation), Stuttgart (German Evangelical Kirchentag) and Lund (Third Word Conference for Faith and Order), have with great urgency directed anew to us Lutherans the [...]
PSALM L. THE Psalm contains a rebuke to the hypocrites, who thought to satisfy God by going through the round of outward services, and keeping the law on their lips. As formerly, at the giving of the law on Sinai, so now God appears on Zion for the explanation of it, and for judgment against [...]
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Download: .doc/.pdf From Luther’s Prayers Dear Father in heaven, for the sake of your dear Son Jesus Christ grant us your Holy Spirit, that we may be true learners of Christ, and therefore acquire a heart with a never-ceasing fountain [...]
Duties of Ministers of the Church The priesthood “is not leisure but the task of tasks,” Bernard writes somewhere, and “the name ‘bishopric’ is a word of work, not of honor,” according to Augustine (Bk.19, de civ. Dei, c.19). Now that we have explained the reasons for the ministry of the church and the necessity [...]
Romans I. 26, 27 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards another. All these affections then were vile, but [...]
Cyril of Alexandria (412-444): “Seeing then that the law condemned sinners and sometimes imposed the supreme penalty on those who disregarded it and was in no way merciful, how was the appointment of a truly compassionate and merciful high priest not necessary for those on earth; one who would abrogate the curse, check the legal [...]
Ver. 81-88.–Ver. 81. My soul thirsteth for thy word, I wait for thy salvation. Ver. 82. Mine eyes long after thy word, and I say: when wilt thou comfort me. Ver. 83. For I am like a bottle in the smoke, I forget not thy commandments. Ver. 84. How many are the days of thy [...]
Ambrosiaster (fl. c. 366-384), on Rom. 1:11: “For the mercy of God had been given for this reason, that they should cease from the works of the law, as I have often said, because God, taking pity on our weaknesses, decreed that the human race would be saved by faith alone, along with the natural [...]
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. Download: .doc/.pdf From Luther’s Prayers O God, here I learn to recognize you as my Creator. How wonderfully you have made me, both in body and soul. You have given me life through my parents and given them kind hearts [...]
by John Warwick Montgomery A most dangerous method of resolving arguments is the appeal to human authority. A disagrees With B; A Cites great man C in his behalf; B Claims that great man D supports his view; and the discussion degenerates into an attempt on the part of A to show that his authority [...]
A Sermon on Ezekiel 34: 11-16 by Dr. David Adams, Concordia Seminary, St Louis, MO This sermon was delivered to the seminary students at Concordia Seminary, St Louis, on Good Shepherd Sunday 2006 (Good Shepherd Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Easter. This sermon was transcribed from the Issues, Etc mp3 archive by Bill Powers [...]
In this very thorough article, Josh McDowell & Don Stewart evaluate the central tenets of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and identify the Arian roots of their doctrines. The article also includes a very helpful glossary of terms at the end. History Officially known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are a product [...]
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. Download: .doc/.pdf From Luther’s Prayers O dear God and Father, keep us wide awake and active, eager and diligent in your word and service. May we not be overconfident, idle, and indifferent, as though we owned all things. May the [...]
Ver. 12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He chooses for an inheritance. The whole is grouped around this position. On the one side, it is a deduction from what goes before, and, on the other, it is a thesis which is proved in what follows. The Psalmist alludes, [...]
Cura Religionis or Two Kingdoms: The Late Luther on Religion and the State in the Lectures on Genesis 1 by David M. Whitford In 1996, Bernhard Lohse wondered if the Luther presented by some would recognize the Luther described by others.2 Trying to recognize the “political” Luther would be especially difficult. On the one hand, [...]
Christian, Evangelical Worship: The Great Sacramental Reversal by Steven D. Paulson Christian worship that is evangelical is nothing but “that our dear Lord himself speaks to us through his holy Word and we respond to him through prayer and praise” (LW 51, 333). Nothing else should ever happen there. [So Luther preached at the dedication [...]
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. Download .doc/.pdf From Luther’s Prayers Dear Father, here you teach us how we are not by deception to release, drain, extort, sell, depreciate our neighbor’s property, or get by force, but help him keep it, as we ourselves desire to [...]
They said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed; but he, Paul, shows that he who adhered to faith alone is blessed. (First Corinthians, Homily 20, PG 61.164) For you believe the faith; why then do you add other things, as if faith were not sufficient to justify? You make yourselves captive, and [...]
That it is good and God pleasing to sing hymns is, I think, known to every Christian, for everyone is aware not only of the example of the prophets and kings in the Old Testament who praised God with song and sound, with poetry and psaltery, but also of the common and ancient custom of [...]
Marius Victorinus (born ca. 280) on Justification Every mystery which is enacted by our Lord Jesus Christ asks only for faith. The mystery was enacted at that time for our sake and aimed at our resurrection and liberation, should we have faith in the mystery of Christ and in Christ. For the patriarchs prefigured and [...]
