Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Matthew 28:18–20
This is not to say that Christianity is supposed to me some form of democracy. It is not, for we do have a supreme leader, a head over us all.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Psalm 119:105
If we wish to demonstrate that the pope—or anyone else, for that matter—cannot claim rule and power whatsoever over bishops, pastors, or laity either, then we had better have some authority behind our statement.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Luke 22:24–27
It is bad enough that one Christian would claim to rule over others, since there are teachings of Jesus that say otherwise, let alone the example of his own servant leadership.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Acts 4:12
Theologians gathered at Smalcald in 1537, to construct their response to the pope’s convening of a council. This paper, “The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope,” is the result of their gathering.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 2 Thessalonians 2:13–15
The Word of God united with faith makes things holy. Human rituals, especially when devised to make money, have nothing to do with consecration. Baptism, for example, was instituted by God to join us to Christ’s death and resurrection, and is to be received by faith in God’s promises.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 1 Timothy 1:18–19
Rely on the Word of God. Human traditions will compromise Scripture and cause you to stumble in your conscience. Worse, they will leave you with a sense of angst...
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Titus 1:13–16
If a ceremony or regulation denies the work of Christ, God’s grace, or his plan of redemption, then it is untrue, or to use a stronger term, heresy. If it is claimed that any religious tradition attains to the remission of sins—in whole or in part—it is heresy.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Matthew 24:4–5
Imagining that one’s deeds earn heaven is bad enough. The notion that one’s good deeds are more than enough for self, and that the overflow may be shared with others so that they gain heaven is blasphemous.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: James 2:14–17
It is critical that we understand what real faith is, and is not. Faith is not mere belief, for as James says, even demons believe in that sense.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Acts 15:7–11
Faith is the passive receiver. It does not grab or make wild efforts that get in the way, as though flailing its limbs trying to grasp the unreachable. Faith does not seize; it simply receives what is given.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Philippians 3:8–11
The Church is the communion of saints, that blessed fellowship of those who believe in and are faithful to Jesus Christ. Her holiness is not a sanctity or purity of her own...
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 1 Timothy 4:1–5
I vaguely recall a Christmas when I was 16 or 17 years old and refused to open presents. Realizing how foolish and hurtful I was acting, I conceded by joining in the festivities
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Jeremiah 23:1–4
If there are no bishops to ordain pastors, or if the bishops will not do so, it remains the Church’s responsibility to make sure new pastors are prepared, ordained, and called to serve congregations.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Ephesians 4:11–13
Christ calls ministers of his Gospel. If an institution, tradition, or just plain poor management stands in the way of their placement, it is the Church’s responsibility to make a way for them.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Romans 16:17–18
The greater excommunication or excommunicatio major was an ecclesiastical penalty that introduced civil and political restrictions as well as religious limitations.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: John 15:1–5
The Word of God sanctifies all whom it touches. This cleansing does not happen to people because they do holy things but instead, because the holy God has forgiven them of all their sin.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 4:1–4
You see how important, how central the Word must be to all doctrine. We dare not permit anyone to claim a special word from God. Let a person speak the external, revealed Word of God and be content.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Galatians 3:5–6
For all his devotion and good deeds, Cornelius was not spared from the wrath of God against sin. Though he feared God, he did not know him. He believed in a coming Savior but was not saved.
Fun With the First Article
The whole first article of the Apostles Creed, short enough in itself, can be summed up in two words. In the article, Christians confess, “We believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.”
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Romans 10:17
That someone could believe in someone or something that they have never heard of is an absurd notion. How can anyone believe in Christ without having heard of him?
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 3:1–5
The Word of God is the foundation of doctrinal authority. It is God’s agency of grace. Human reason cheats people out of his grace and turns them into true fanatics who rely on their own so-called insights instead of the conviction of Scripture.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Galatians 3:2
God gives us his Spirit, and an understanding of the things of the Spirit, through his Word. “God told me,” does not cut it. “It is written,” is the way of God’s people. Examples are in abundance.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Romans 7:21–25
Within myself, I delight in God’s Word. But I cannot do it, much as I try. I am a sinner; that much I can confess. And more! For, though I cannot do what the Word tells me, I keep it and remain delighted by its promises.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Psalm 25:11
It is a means of grace to be reminded of what we know—or to be told and taught what we do not know yet. Therefore, the Gospel itself is a means of grace.
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Matthew 16:19
How is this binding and loosing of sins accomplished? Does it occur because one has finally confessed the last sin? If so, how does one confess an unknown sin, a stray thought, a wayward and quickly forgotten glance or word, an unknown, undone deed?
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