http://ecclesiaaugustana.blogspot.com

Ecclesia Augustana is a lay-led Confessional Lutheran blog dedicated to examining the doctrine and practice of the Lutheran Church, especially in the United States.

Current Authors:
Christian Schulz; All posts here.
Daniel Baker; All posts here.
Bryan Lidtke; All posts here.
Dagan Siepert; All posts here.

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "UOJ Decision Theology":

When you discard the true Means of Grace, you will inevitably find something else to fill the vacuum. While prayer is commanded and flows from Faith, the Reformed make it as a means to obtain grace. Likewise, Decision Theology emphasizes man's effort. Also, take note how the Efficacy of the Word is placed on the back burner. Instead, what they get is the Bible as an instruction manual.

He grew up in Uncle Walther's house, as a guest. Why don't the UOJ Storm-Brownies quote Fuerbringer?

One more DP will get away with lying, because WELS is infallible.

There is only one congregation involved - St. Peter, Freedom - whose retired pastor is Ron Ash, chairman of the secretive Church and Change cult in WELS.

The failed evening service for St. Peter is The CORE, a ruse for the rubes who think Ski's little sandbox was a mission to downtown Appleton. The model is the multi-campus Emergent Church, which anyone can google if he has trouble sleeping at night.

Engelbrecht has told upper management that Ski is suspended, for cause, but that was not announced on WELS.net. SP Mark Schroeder could not wait to report Rydecki's suspension for teaching (gasp) justification by faith - in harmony with the Scriptures and the Book of Concord.

He escaped St. Peter, Freedom, after a few months. If no one talks about anything, nothing is resolved. That is the WELSian way.

By the way, in WELS, suspension means gone from the official ministerium of the sect. Some clergy repair furnaces or sell frozen food for several years, but they do not have a call or their jobs waiting for them.

But in contrast, St. Peter in Freedom and The CORE are both being told that Ski is enjoying a "leave of absence" and will return shortly. In a little while you will see me again. Ski is coming back at the end of the summer, Engelbrecht assures them. Is Ski being paid for doing nothing? you ask. We all know the answer to that - "Why should anything change now?"

If anyone speaks of the moral turpitude of Engelbrecht, the Eighth Commandment is invoked. When Fox Valley Pastor Joel Lillo wrote to me, he was quick to invoke the Eighth, which is the only Commandment inscribed on the WELSian tablets. And they honor it in the breech, as the saying goes. One would have to look far and wide for a nastier, more dishonest bunch of drunken, adulterous clergy.

Supposedly the COP will meet about this weighty matter, just as they have been discussing Mark Jeske as he climbed the corporate ladder to become their paymasters. "Be nice, Mark and Avoid. Please fund us when you dump Lutheran from Thrivent."

Do not be quick to dismiss this news, Ichabod readers, for SP Schroeder has already threatened Engelbrecht with this story emerging on this blog. I found that fact amusing, since Schroeder never reads Ichabod. Apparently he knows how one blog post can shrivel the latest brag of Church and Change.

To use my labor to keep a DP in line - that is a wonder. Schroeder's gambit reminds me of the anonymous people on Ecclesia Augustana, who write constantly and verbosely against the young scholars publishing on Ecclesia Augustana.

Lying is not exactly a scandal among the DPs of WELS. They live on lies. Buchholz pretended to be against Gunn and Rick Johnson while he was building up support for them.

Below - nothing is for sale this week? And where is Ski?



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Fox Valley Pastor Joel Lillo has left a new comment on your post "Deputy Doug Engelbrecht Is Lying to The CORE and S...":

Greg,

Are you saying that I am drunk and adulterous? Just looking for a clarification on that.

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GJ - I am saying Sig Becker was shocked at how drunken and adulterous the WELS clergy were. A businessman who travels all over the US said the WELS clergy were the worst he had ever seen - crude, drunken, lecherous, etc.

I created this avatar for ChurchMouse.

Churchmouse’s puff pastry | Churchmouse Campanologist:

"That said, once I adapted this French recipe from Touche de Sauveurs, itself adapted from a book called Sensations by Conticini, I’ve never bought another packet of commercial puff pastry.

My quantities for the beurre manié — butter and flour combined — are considerably smaller than Conticini’s."

'via Blog this'

More puff pastry ideas are here.

VirtueOnline - News:

Archbishop Welby's Communion Dilemma

NEWS ANALYSIS

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
April 2, 2013

The installation is over. He is the new king of the Anglican castle. His agony has only just begun.

Rowan Williams left before his time because of irreconcilable differences in the Anglican Communion that he could not resolve. A decade of bitter infighting between orthodox Global South archbishops and pro-gay Western pan Anglican archbishops did him in.

Now we have an evangelical on the throne of Canterbury and at the helm of 77 million Anglicans. But it will not be an easy ride; in fact it could turn out to be the worst ride of his life despite saying all the right things, appointing a Director of Reconciliation, and hoping, presumably against hope, that he can make it all work.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, said Shakespeare.

Almost immediately following his consecration, Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council wrote a compassionate but hard hitting column asking Welby why other North Americans, including the Presiding Bishop of TEC and the Primate of the ACoC, the Rector of Truro, and others were invited to the enthronement - but not the Archbishop of the ACNA (Robert Duncan)? What signal does that send to the members of the ACNA and to the leadership of the GAFCON Anglican Churches, who represent a majority of Anglicans in the worldwide Communion, and who recognize the ACNA? 

Making it very clear that he was imputing the best of motives, Ashey honed in by asking, "Help me understand why there has been, apparently, no meaningful engagement with the leadership of the ACNA, given that they are one of the parties to the 'Anglican wars?' Clearly you are engaging publicly with the leaders of TEC and ACoC. How does the lack of engagement with the leadership of ACNA square with the processes of "reconciliation-as-detoxification?" 

Ashey concluded by saying that it is precisely this faith that has been undermined and challenged by the unilateral actions of North American leaders from The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) by, among other things, consecrating actively practicing homosexual and lesbian bishops and authorizing same-sex blessings - contrary to the Bible, apostolic and catholic teaching, and the teaching of the Anglican Communion on human sexuality, marriage and holy orders (Lambeth Resolution 1.10 1998).

This week Russian Orthodox leader Metropolitan Hilarion warned the new head of the Church of England about the possibility of allowing female bishops, saying it could break the unity among the churches. 

The Church of England narrowly rejected allowing women bishops last November, while congregations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada all allow female bishops. 

In a message to Welby, Hilarion, head of Synodal Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, said that allowing female bishops would lead to the elimination of the theoretical possibility of the Orthodox Church recognizing the hierarchy of the Anglican Church.

"We know that the Anglican Church is now going through a difficult time and various views, positions, and parties co-exist in it," Hilarion said. "However, we really hope that the traditional understanding of Christian morals and the church system will prevail in this polemic."

A full endorser of women bishops, Welby has given off uncertain signals about homosexual couples he has met. He told a gay journalist, Iain Dale, that he would be "open to discussions" on how gay marriage could work in a way that is acceptable to the Church.

He also said he is "quite uncomfortable" talking about same-sex marriage and is "still thinking my way through" the issue. He also said in comments to The Sunday Times that bringing in gay marriage would be a "weakening of the glue that holds society together". Then he said this, "Throughout the Bible it is clear that the right place for sex is only within a committed, heterosexual marriage."

Last week Archbishop Welby was accused of "wobbling" over the Government's plans to redefine marriage.

It is this kind of waffling that scares the living daylights out of Global South archbishops.

It is why, on the Friday following the enthronement, the three primates of Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda excused themselves from a meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury which was attended by other Primates from the Global South. They are wary of him.

Let's put that in perspective. These three provinces make up nearly HALF the membership the Anglican Communion. There are 20 plus million Nigerian Anglicans, 4.5 million Kenya Anglicans, and over 10 million Uganda Anglicans for a grand total of nearly 35 million.

The Archbishop of Kenya, Eliud Wabukala, the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, and the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, had all attended the inauguration service on the previous day. But they left before the Friday meetings between Archbishop Welby and Global South Primates.

A spokeswoman for Lambeth Palace said that the Primates had "commitments" in their various provinces, and had to leave Canterbury soon after the service to catch flights. The other Primates "spoke on behalf of the absent Primates" at the meeting with Archbishop Welby, she said.

Dr. Wabukala, who is chairman of the conservative Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) Primates' Council, had a "very good private meeting" with Archbishop Welby before he left Canterbury.

In an interview, Archbishop Welby said that he intended to adopt a "relationally based" approach to the FCA and the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). "We've got to find good ways of listening to what they have to say, and them listening to what others have to say."

The Primates of Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda signed a letter that was delivered to Archbishop Welby on the day of his inauguration. It was also signed by the Primates of Rwanda and of Sudan, and the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone of America.

The letter said in part: "We are grateful for this opportunity to worship in Canterbury Cathedral and be reminded of our historic faith that is grounded in the revealed Word of God. We encourage you to stay true to the 'faith once delivered to the saints', and as you do we will stand with you for the sake of Christ. We do look forward to a future opportunity to meet and discuss how we can work together."

Therein lies the problem. The issues are not primarily relational, they are doctrinal. The Global South primates will never sit down in the same room with Katharine Jefferts Schori because they believe she does not share the same faith as they do, especially about issues of sexuality about which the Bible is very specific. They refused to show up in Dublin and they won't show up again even with a new evangelical archbishop at the helm of the communion. It is not about Welby; it is about the faith. They reckon the US Presiding Bishop doesn't have one that they remotely recognize as she has sold out to pansexuality, denies the deity of Christ, refuses to believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, says Muslims don't need converting to Christ and thinks the mission of the church is about ameliorating the world's problem through MDGs, The Five Marks of Mission without so much as a nod to the Great Commission to save souls.

Still and all, Welby has some capital that he can draw on, but the truth is it won't be enough to take to the bank if he gives off uncertain sounds about gay marriage.

Being the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England's head is not the same as being the titular head of the Anglican Communion. The bar is far higher. In Nigeria Anglicans have been, and continue to be, slaughtered for their faith, nobody dies for their faith in England. Wishy-washy sermons from countless liberal pulpits in the Church of England aren't worth dying for and nobody is going to machete you to death for saying Jesus is just one of many ways to the Father.

Welby has suffered through his own personal bereavements. This is in some measure why he has been called a "risk-taker and reconciler by nature" with his heroic efforts in Nigeria.

But the Church is not an oil company and this is not about friction between countries or tribalism gone mad. It is about the faith, a faith that has been under siege for more than a decade in the Communion. It finally erupted with the emergence of FCA/GAFCON and the formation of a new Anglican jurisdiction in North America. Relational feel good attitudes won't cut it with these tough African leaders.

Another pressing question is what will he do with the ultra liberal Anglican Consultative Council or ACC, one of the four "Instruments of Communion" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference. The council, which includes Anglican bishops, clergy and laity, meets every two or three years in different parts of the world. 

The ACC has grown progressively more liberal over time, co-opting liberals to play important roles in its council. The last three Secretary-Generals of the Anglican Communion include Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh, under whose tenure The Windsor Report was commissioned. Later came Rev. Canon John L. Peterson whose specialty was manipulating Global South leaders, taking their cell phones from them so they couldn't talk to each other at meetings and pushing liberals into every slot he could find. His successor is Canon Kenneth Kearon who has done his mistress's (Jefferts Schori) bidding in order to keep the funds flowing and making sure that only token conservatives are to be found on commissions and committees, thus guaranteeing that his liberal paymasters will never be offended.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is ex officio the President of the Council. He could change things. Will he?

The truth is Welby is besieged on all sides. He is going to have to decide one way or another whose side he is on. The Global South will not let him sit in the middle for long. They are going to demand to know where he stands on core issues and what he will do with US and Canadian primates. He will also have to reconsider what he will do with the ACNA. He will not be permitted to do what Williams did and tell ACNA Archbishop Bob Duncan to simply apply to the ACC. That will go nowhere as the ACC would turn him down in a heart beat.

Even if he allows the next chairman of the Primates Council to be drawn from among the Primates and they begin to change things, how will he take the loss of power that comes with that? If he takes it graciously, things could change for the better.

Meantime, Welby's honeymoon will be short. His kairos moment is coming. The Anglican Communion will be watching to see which way he goes. The Global South will be looking and listening with the greatest intensity. The future of the Anglican Communion hangs on his decision.

'via Blog this'

DirtyWork:




'via Blog this'

The philosophy of UOJ cannot be harmonized with justification by faith alone, just as oil and water do not mix. Someone can shake oil and water up vigorously, as the Storm-Brownies do, creating  a temporary, murky mixture, but the two elements will separate again.

Likewise, modern theology and Biblical theology cannot be made to agree. Modern theologians realize this and quickly spot the departure point in those who dissent from their Kantian wisdom. If the Bible is the revealed Word of God, and the Scriptures judge all books, then modern theology is a clever farce using stained glass words to cover the advance of their peculiar ideas.

The graphic above completely destroys the UOJ position, which is the singular dogma of ELCA, WELS, LCMS, ELS, and the micro-minis. Hundreds of other statements also eviscerate the smooth lies and demonic seduction of world absolution.

But when people are committed to modernism, they only need to gather their authorities, line them up, and repeat the same declarations, spiced with a mixture of flattery and rage, depending on which approach seems more useful at the moment.

Suddenly we learn, Luther discovered UOJ but hid it carefully in the midst of 100 volumes of published work, with Galatians being his late, brilliant final say on justification by faith alone. Robert Preus did almost the same thing. He really wanted to praise UOJ in Justification and Rome but ended up repudiating the dogma, perhaps due to a few hundred typographical errrors.

And just as suddenly, a well known pornographer, with the help of atheists, lesbians, and homosexuals, has carved a perfect Bible out of the granite of Hebrew and marble of Greek - the New NIV! This creative paraphrase is so good that the presses are all set to keep revising it infinitely. All have sinned (we knew that) and all are justified (we knew that, but the Bible finally said it for us, for Mequon, and for ELCA).

There is now grace for all people - for the Mao who butchered 40 to 100 million of his own people, for the SynCons who work with ELCA while denouncing ELCA, for Hindu polytheists, Hollywood Buddhists, and budding young atheists. A new dawn has arisen, as that poping pastor Preuss exulted. We are born forgiven.

Best of all, thanks to the UOJ NNIV, pastors and theologians who cannot spell will still have jobs. This UOJ racket is so good that the Storm-Brownies will not let anyone know the arguments and quotations for justification by faith. Instead they keep repeating their easily learned but impossible to explain dogma.

What better way to excuse their use of Schwan funds when they knew they were just mining his guilt for wrecking his marriage and leaving his first wife in despair. It is strange how everyone praised Marvin so much that they never touched upon the facts of this great conservative, Biblical leader. They all like their new Bibles with only ONE commandment - and it is definitely not the Sixth.

To fool us about their degenerate behavior, the UOJ advocates dazzle us with their John Maxwell biz-language loops. Leaders have to lead. (Pause. Think about that, you morons.) Goals must be set. (Didja hear that, Gertrude? Let's git some of them goals.) Are they SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Terrific? Never ask how well this has worked in the last 50 years of Management by Objective, but prioritize them and get those obstacle-makers out of the way by running them down or kicking them out.

Bishop Katie, Ski, and Glende bought into the biz-language blizzard and ran off to many different biz-language bistros to give the impression of actually working. But this exhausted them so much that they had to copy the sermons, themes, and graphics of one Craig Groeschel while denouncing anyone who took Luther seriously.

The lying, abusive, beer-soaked "ministry" of Jeske's Church and Change cannot be compared to the Means of Grace. There is no connection.

I asked Dr. Bruce Church how he found information on this blog when I could not. He told me. "Start with Google. Use Ichabod as the first word. Add the search."

For instance, I knew that I quoted Bishop Katie's Twitter account, so I did an Icha-search with that as the search item. Soon I had more information and badly spelled words than I ever imagined. Many like to use the social media, so their activities are easy to find.

Google searches would be the end of WELS if people did more of them.

Image searches also work. The page for the image is given in Google and Bing image searches, so the image itself may give away plenty of new information.

Many have complained about this blog owning images on a wide variety of Lutheran topics.

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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "How To Find Stuff on Ichabod":

Ichabod -

Thank you for this posting of yours. It is very helpful.

Every so often, a layman will say to me, "But I am only a layman. I don't have all the training that the clergy do."

Bullies like Tim Glende want the laity to think this way, which represents a false view of the Word and of the true Church. Most clergy have little training, except in how to conform to Holy Mother Synod. Ft. Wayne's motto is "Cooperate to graduate."

Worse, the clergy who party their way through seminary are often the leaders, and they lead in having poor study habits. What they learned badly 30 years ago is repeated. That is actually the model for WELS pastoral conferences - simply repeat the notes from the infallible Sausage Factory.

Even if all the clergy had real doctorates (neither Fuller DMins nor seminary ThDs), Jacobs' statement would still be just as true.

The laity have the advantage of NOT being brain-washed in seminary and NOT relying on such-and-such beloved professors. One must wonder about those poor Ft. Wayne seminary students who are imprinted by David Scaer and follow him around like ducklings. Or perhaps they are more like the devotees of Simon Stylites, venerating the saint who sat up on a pillar. Everything that came down was worshiped as a holy object. Everything.

The laity who suffer the most are the ones who have been trained to start with seminary essays and make that dogmatic template the one and only way to judge the Word. But that is a violation of the historic Christian interpretation of the Word.

The Scriptures judge the Scriptures. No synod can supplant that truth, and no man dare place himself between anyone else and the Word.

Anyone with a good translation of the Bible and a trustworthy Book of Concord can be a true student of the Holy Spirit. I would add Luther's sermons to that list, which is why I post them regularly and quote them often. "The closer to Luther, the better the theologian." That is true, even if CFW Walther said it. He was probably quoting someone else.

Luther could cite the ancients and base a sermon on philosophical thought. He avoided those methods most of the time because the Word alone is the clearest possible teacher. He took those side-roads because he knew how to demolish false arguments by using the authorities of the false teachers. He called it taking away the weapons of the enemy and defeating them with those weapons.

We learn this from the Concordists and Luther - they all relied on the Holy Spirit teaching through the Word.

The advantage of lay-led blogs like Ecclesia Augustana is the promotion of individual research, which leads to better preparation. I laughed at the prolix self-styled expert, who could not stop offering advice on EA not to write on EA, which was noble and edifying only if he did it anonymously. The self-appointed expert suggested the Martin Luther College managed websty, which does touch on neglected topics. But isn't that the college where Church and Changers are hailed as superstars and students steal Miley Cyrus music and gay interpretations of Party in the Fire Island Pines?

Many laity write for this blog, and they do exceptional research on topics. Some of it comes from personal observation, which is the best way to discuss what is happening currently. Others burrow into ancient and arcane dogmatics studies. Still others gather quotations from those so-called experts of synodical fame and fortune.

Most of the big breakthroughs on this blog have come from the contributions from others. Since people work independently we are able to piece together sources (Knapp, Halle, Calvinism, Stephan) and cover more materials.

Missouri, WELS, and the Micro-Mini sects have not grasped this statement of Luther, this teaching of Jesus from John 16:8-10. And they want to teach and excommunicate us Haha.

SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.   

This sermon is not in edition c. It is found in the “Rules and Instructions for those going to the Lord’s Supper.”

German text: Erlangen edition vol. 2, 324; Walch edition vol. 2, 989; St.

Louis edition vol. 2, 724.

TEXT:

John 20:19-31. When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had said this, he showed unto them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written, in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.

CONTENTS:

THE NATURE, FRUIT, POWER AND AUTHORITY OF FAITH.
I. IN GENERAL

II. IN DETAIL.

A. The Nature And Character Of Faith, Which 1. Is here set forth In clear words 2.

2. Is illustrated by Christ’s entrance through closed doors 3-4.

B. The Fruit Of Faith.

1. The first fruit is peace. a. The nature of this peace n5-7 b. How this peace is to be distinguished from the peace of the world 7- 8. c. How this peace springs from faith

2. The second fruit is joy 10-11.

C. Of The Power Or Virtue Faith Should Show Forth.

1. In general, that we love our neighbor

2. In detail. a . That we seek to bring our neighbor to believe 13. b. That we seek to serve our neighbor, only in that which he needs 14.

D. Of The Authority Christ Gave To Faith.

1. That this authority is so great and mighty that no one can praise it enough 15.

2. That this is not bodily nor temporal but spiritua1 authority 15-16.

3. This authority belongs to every Christian

4. How we should thank God for this power

5. How this authority becomes of great comfort to believers

18. 6 . How this authority is to be rescued from the misuse of the papists 19-20.

* Unbelief is great blasphemy of God 21.

SUMMARY OF THIS GOSPEL:

1. First, it is shown that the disciples are deficient in their faith; for they were afraid, as all are who have not been made bold by the Spirit of God.

Moreover, Thomas believes not until he sees and feels.

2. The disciples believe not without public signs. But blessed are they who have not seen, and believe only the Word of God.

3. The signs, by which the Lord Christ was known he shows us in the times of trouble and when we are under the cross, and then we learn aright who Christ is.

SECOND SUMMARY:

1. That we have peace, as the fruit of Christ’s resurrection.

2. As Christ was sent by the Father, so we also are sent; therefore no one should think that he will come to glory without tribulations and the cross.

3. The true and faithful, that is, those in whom the Spirit of Christ is have the power to forgive and retain sins.

4. But when John says: “These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name;” ye see what John wrote is sufficient for faith, and where faith is, there is also life in the name of Christ. Therefore all teaching is in vain and unprofitable, that does not proclaim the Gospel.

1. This Gospel praises the fruit of faith, and illustrates its nature and character. Among the fruits of faith are these two: peace and joy, as St.

Paul writes to the Galatians, where he mentions in order all kinds of fruit saying: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22. Thus these two fruits are also mentioned in our text. In the first place, Christ stands there among the disciples, who sit in fear and terror, and whose hearts are greatly troubled every hour expecting death; to them he comes and comforts them, saying: “Peace be unto you.” This is one fruit. In the second place there follows from this sweet word the other fruit, that they were glad when they saw the Lord. Then he further bestows upon faith power and authority over all things in heaven and on earth, and truly extols it in that he says: “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” And again: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Let us now consider each thought in order.

2. Faith, as we have often said, is of the nature, that every one appropriates to himself the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which we have already said enough; namely, that it is not sufficient simply to believe Christ rose from the dead, for this produces neither peace nor joy, neither power nor authority; but you must believe that he rose for your sake, for your benefit, and was not glorified for his own sake; but that he might help you and all who believe in him, and that through his resurrection sin, death and hell are vanquished and the victory given to you.

3. This is signified by Christ entering through closed doors, and standing in the midst of his disciples. For this standing denotes nothing else than that he is standing in our hearts; there he is in the midst of us, so that he is ours, as he stands there and they have him among them. And when he thus stands within our hearts, we at once hear his loving voice saying to the troubled consciences: Peace, there is no danger; your sins are forgiven and blotted out, and they shall harm you no more.

4. And this entrance the Lord made here through barred doors, going through wood and stone, and still leaving everything whole, breaking nothing, yet getting in among his disciples. This illustrates how the Lord comes into our hearts and stands in us, namely, through the office of the ministry. Therefore, since God has commanded men to preach his Word, one should in no wise despise a mortal man into whose mouth he has put his Word; lest we get the idea that every one must expect a special message from heaven, and that God should speak to him by the word of his mouth. For if he imparts faith to any one, he does it by means of the preaching of man and the external word of man.

This is going through closed doors, when he comes into the heart through the Word, not breaking nor displacing anything. For when the Word of God comes, it neither injures the conscience, nor deranges the understanding of the heart and the external senses; as the false teachers do who break all the doors and windows, breaking through like thieves, leaving nothing whole and undamaged, and perverting, falsifying and injuring all life, conscience, reason, and the senses. Christ does not do thus.

Such now is the power of the Word of God. Thus we have two parts, preaching and believing. His coming to us is preaching; his standing in our hearts is faith. For it is not sufficient that he stands before our eyes and ears; he must stand in the midst of us in our hearts, and offer and impart to us peace.

5. For the fruit of faith is peace; not only that which one has outwardly, but that of which Paul speaks to the Philippians ( Philippians 4:7) saying it is a peace that passeth all reason, sense and understanding. And where this peace is, one shall not and cannot judge according to reason. This we shall see still farther in our Gospel lesson.

6. First, the disciples sit there behind barred doors in great fear of the Jews, afraid to venture outside, with death staring them in the face. Outwardly they indeed have peace, no one is doing them any harm; but inwardly their hearts are troubled, and they have neither peace nor rest. Amid their fear and anguish the Lord comes, quiets their hearts and makes them glad, so that their fear is removed, not by removing the danger, but in that their hearts were no more afraid. For thereby the malice of the Jews is not taken away, nor changed; they rave and rage as before, and outwardly everything remains the same. But they are changed inwardly, receiving such boldness and joy as to declare: “We have seen the Lord.” Thus he quiets their hearts, so that they become cheerful and fearless, not caring how the Jews rage.

7. This is the true peace that satisfies and quiets the heart; not in times when no adversity is at hand, but in the midst of adversity, when outwardly there is nothing but strife before the eyes. And this is the difference between worldly and spiritual peace. Worldly peace consists in removing the outward evil that disturbs the peace; as when the enemies besiege a city there is no peace; but when they depart peace returns. Such is the case with poverty and sickness. While they afflict you, you are not contented; but when they are removed and you are rid of the distress, there is peace and rest again from without. But he who experiences this is not changed, being just as fainthearted whether the evil be present or not; only he feels it and is frightened when it is present.

8. Christian or spiritual peace, however, just turns the thing about, so that outwardly the evil remains, as enemies, sickness, poverty, sin, death and the devil. These are there and never desist, encompassing us on every side; nevertheless, within there is peace, strength and comfort in the heart, so that the heart cares for no evil, yea, is really bolder and more joyful in its presence than in its absence. Therefore it is peace which passeth and transcendeth all understanding and all the senses. For reason can not grasp any peace except worldly or external peace, for it can not reconcile itself to it nor understand how that is peace if evil is present, and it knows not how to satisfy and comfort a person; hence it thinks if the evil depart, peace departs also. When however the Spirit comes, he lets outward adversity remain, but strengthens the person, making the timid fearless, the trembling bold, changing the troubled into a quite, peaceful conscience, and such an one is bold, fearless and joyful in things by which all the world otherwise is terrified.

9. Whence does he receive this? From his faith in Christ. For if I truly believe in the Lord from the real depth of my heart, that my heart can truly say: My Lord Christ has by his resurrection conquered my need, my sin, death and all evil, and will be thus with and in me, so that body and soul shall want nothing, that I shall have all I need, and no evil shall harm me: if I believe this, it is impossible for me to be faint-hearted and timid no matter how much sin and death oppress me. For faith is ever present and says:

Does sin burden you, does death terrify you, look to Christ who died for your sake and rose again, and conquered every evil; what can harm you?

Why will you then fear? So also in case other misfortunes burden you, as sickness or poverty, turn your eyes from it, lock the door to reason and cast yourself upon Christ and cleave to him, so shall you be strengthened and comforted. If you look to Christ and believe on him, no evil that may befall you is so great that it can harm you and cause you to despair.

Therefore it is impossible for this fruit to remain outside, where faith is, so that peace does not follow.

10. From peace the other fruit now follows, as is taught in this Gospel.

When Christ came to the disciples and said: “Peace be unto you!” and showed them his hands and feet; then they were glad that they saw the Lord. Yes, to be sure they had to be glad, for that they saw Christ was the greatest joy the heart of man can experience. Hitherto we have been permitted to see our hands, that is, we have been taught to trust in our works; this brought no gladness. But to see Christ makes us glad. And this takes, place by faith; for thus St. Paul in Romans 5:1-2 says: “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

11. Thus we have the fruit whereby we know who are true Christians. For he who has no peace in that in which the world finds nothing but unrest, and is joyful in that which in the world is nothing but gloom and sorrow, is not yet a Christian, and does not yet believe. This truth is being also sung at this season everywhere in the hymn on the Lord’s resurrection; but hardly anybody understands it. He who composed it surely understood it aright. He does not stop at the Lord is risen, when he says: “Christ is risen from his Passion ;” as though this were sufficient, but brings it home to us and adds: Let us all rejoice in this. But how can we rejoice in it, if we have nothing of it and it is not ours? Therefore, if I am to rejoice in it, it must be mine, that I may claim it as my own property, that it may profit me. And finally he closes: Christ will be our consolation, that we can and shall have no other consolation but Christ. He wants to be it himself and he alone, that we should cling to him in every time of need; for he has conquered all for our benefit, and by his resurrection he comforts all troubled consciences and sad hearts. This the Gospel teaches concerning faith and its fruits.

12. Now follows the office of the ministry. The power of faith now develops love. For it does not yet suffice that I have the Lord so that he is mine, and that I find in him all comfort, peace and joy; but I must henceforth also do as he has done: for it follows thus in the text: “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

13. The first and highest work of love a Christian ought to do when he has become a believer, is to bring others also to believe in the way he himself came to believe. And here you notice Christ begins and institutes the office of the ministry of the external Word in every Christian; for he himself came with this office and the external Word. Let us lay hold of this, for we must admit it was spoken to us. In this way the Lord desires to say: You have now received enough from me, peace and joy, and all you should have; for your person you need nothing more. Therefore labor now and follow my example, as I have done, so do ye. My Father sent me into the world only for your sake, that I might serve you, not for my own benefit. I have finished the work, have died for you, and given you all that I am and have; remember and do ye also likewise, that henceforth ye may only serve and help everybody, otherwise ye would have nothing to do on earth. For by faith ye have enough of everything. Hence I send you into the world as my Father hath sent me; namely, that every Christian should instruct and teach his neighbor, that he may also come to Christ. By this, no power is delegated exclusively to popes and bishops, but all Christians are commanded to profess their faith publicly and also to lead others to believe.

14. Secondly, if you have exercised yourself in this highest work and taught others the right way of truth, then make up your mind to keep on and serve everybody. Then the example of your life and good works follows; not that you can thereby merit and acquire anything, seeing you have beforehand everything that is necessary to salvation. Furthermore Christ now gives a command, he breathes upon the disciples and says: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

15. This is a great and mighty power which no one can sufficiently extol, given to mortal men of flesh and blood over sin, death and hell, and over all things. The pope too boasts in the canon law that Christ has given to him power over all earthly things; which would indeed be correct if the people rightly understood it. For they apply it to the civil government; this is not Christ’s thought; but he gives spiritual power and rule, and wishes to say this much: When ye speak a word concerning a sinner, it shall be spoken in heaven, and shall avail so much as if God himself spake it in heaven; for he is in your mouth, therefore it has the same force as if he himself spoke it.

Now it is always true, if Christ speaks a word, since he is Lord over sin and hell, and says to you: Thy sins are forgiven; then they must be forgiven and nothing can prevent it. Again, if he says: Thy sins shall not be forgiven thee; then they remain unforgiven, so that neither you, nor an angel, nor a saint, nor any creature, can forgive your sin, even if you martyred yourself to death.

16. This same power belongs to every Christian, since Christ has made us all partakers of his power and dominion; and here his is not a civil but a spiritual rule, and his Christians also rule spiritually. For he does not say:

This city, this country, this bishopric or kingdom you shall rule, as the pope does; but he says: Ye shall have power to forgive and to retain sins. Hence this power pertains to the conscience, so that by virtue of God’s Word I can pass judgment as to what the conscience can cleave to, so that against and above that no creature can do anything, neither sin, nor the world nor Satan. This is true power. But thereby no power is given me to rule over temporal matters, over a country and people, externally after the manner of civil governments, but a much higher and nobler power, which can in no sense be compared with it.

17. Therefore we shall thank God, that we now know the great power and glory given us through Christ in his plain Word, as St. Paul also highly praises and extols it to the Ephesians, saying: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. And again: “God made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:5-10.

18. Observe, what great transcendent comfort we have in that God awakens in us also the same power he exercises in Christ, and bestows upon us equal authority. As he made him sit in heavenly places, above all power and might, and everything that can be named; so has he invested us also with the same power, that those who believe have all power over heaven and earth. This we have in the words he left behind him; and they are so powerful, that when they are spoken by us, they avail as much as if he himself were on earth and spake them in the majesty and glory in which he now exists. And this is the power we have from his resurrection and ascension; there he gives us power to. kill and to make alive, to consign to the devil and to rescue from him.

19. But in this matter one must proceed carefully, and not do like the popes. For they have reached the point to have the power, that however and whatever they say, so it must be, because they say it. Nay, this power you have not, but the divine Majesty alone has. it. They say thus: If the pope speaks a word and says: Thy sins are forgiven thee, they are blotted out, even though you neither repent nor believe. They mean by this, that they have the power to bestow and withhold heaven, to open or shut it, to locate one in heaven or cast into hell; far from it that it should be so. For from this it would then follow that our salvation depended on the works, authority and power of man. Therefore, since this is in conflict with all the Scriptures it can not be true that when you open or shut, it must be open or shut.

20. Therefore we must rightly understand Christ when he says: “Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained ;” that this does not establish the power of him who speaks but of those who believe. Now the power of him who speaks and of him who believes are as far apart as heaven and earth.

God has given us the Word and the authority to speak; but it does not therefore follow from this that it must so be done, as Christ also preached and taught the Word, and yet not all who heard it believed, and it was not everywhere done as he spake the Word, although it was God’s Word.

Therefore Christ’s meaning is: Ye shall have the power to speak the Word, and to preach the Gospel, saying, Whosoever believeth, has the remission of his sins; but whosoever believeth not, has no remission of sin. But ye have not the power to create faith. For there is a great difference between planting and giving the growth; as Paul says to the Corinthians: “I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6. Hence we have no authority to rule as lords; but to be servants and ministers who shall preach the Word, by means of which we incite people to believe.

Therefore, if you believe the Word, you gain this power; but if you believe not, then what I speak or preach will avail nothing even though it be God’s Word; and if you believe not these words you are not treating me but God himself with dishonor and contempt.

21. Therefore, unbelief is nothing but blasphemy, which makes God a liar.

For if I say, your sins are forgiven you in God’s name, and you believe it not, it is the same as if you said: who knows whether it be true, and whether he be in earnest? by this you charge God and his Word with lying.

Therefore you better be far from the Word, if you believe it not. For when a man preaches his Word, God would have it as highly esteemed as if he himself had preached it. This then is the power given by God. which every Christian has, and of which we have already spoken much and often; hence this is enough for the present.

WELS leaders conspired to steal St. John and its endowment from the pastor and its members. TV series - Two Men and a Law Firm.

SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

SECOND SERMON. JOHN 20:19-31.


John 20:19-31. When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had said this, he showed unto them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written, in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.


This sermon is not in edition c. It as preached by Luther in 1522 at Borna and was printed with two other sermons he delivered in the same place. It was issued also with miscellaneous sermons in 1522.

German text: Erlangen edition vol. II, 335; Walch edition vol. II, 1003; St.

Louis edition vol. II, 734.

CONTENTS:

OF TRUE PIETY, THE LAW AND FAITH, AND OF LOVE TO OUR NEIGHBOR.
* The Substance of this Gospel 1.

I. OF TRUE PIETY,THE LAW AND FAITH.

1. How we are, and are not, to develop true piety 2-3.

2. In what true piety does and does not consist 4-5.

3. How and why hypocrites do not come to true faith 6-8.

4. Who are the false and the true disciples of the law and of godliness 9-10.

5. Whether true piety is so perfect, that no sin remains 11.

6. The right characters of true piety 12-13.

7. Whether the law has power to develop true piety 13-15.

8. To what end does the law serve 16-19.

9. What we obtain through faith to develop our piety 20-22.

* This is the substance of the Gospel 23-25.

10. The conclusion of this doctrine of true piety, the law and faith 26.

II. OF LOVE TO OUR NEIGHBOR.

1. How this love is learned in the example of Christ

2. How this love follows from faith, and is to be viewed as a mark of true faith 28-29.

3. Whether we are to view this love as though we were thereby pious and saved 28-30.

* Of the Office of the Keys 31-32.

4. How this love should manifest itself especially in the office of the keys 33.

5. What should move us to show love to our neighbor 34-35.

* In all the Gospel lessons there are two parts, faith and love 36.

I. OF TRUE GODLINESS; OF THE LAW AND FAITH.

1. In today’s Gospel is presented to us, what the life of a Christian is to be and that it consists of two parts: first, that the Lord shows Thomas his hands and feet; secondly, that he is sent as Christ is sent. This is nothing else than faith and love, the two thoughts that are preached to us in all the Gospel texts.

2. Formerly you heard, and alas! it is preached in all the world, that if anyone desires to become righteous, he must begin with human laws. This was done under the reign of the pope, and nearly all the very best preachers preached nothing else than how one is to be outwardly pious, and about good works which glitter before the world. But this is still far from the true righteousness that avails before God.

3. There is another way to begin to become righteous, which commences by teaching us the laws of God, from which we learn to know ourselves, what we are, and how impossible it is for us to fulfill the divine commandments. The law speaks thus: Thou shalt have one God, worship him alone, trust in him alone, seek help and comfort from him alone. Exodus 20. The heart hears this and yet it cannot do it. Why then does the law command such an impossible thing? In order, as I have said, to show us our inability, and that we may learn to know ourselves and to see ourselves as we are, even as one sees himself in a mirror. When now the conscience, thus smitten by God’s law, begins to quake and finds that it does not keep God’s commandment, then the law does its proper work; for the true mission of the law is only to terrify the conscience.

4. But there are two classes of men who fulfill the law, or who imagine they fulfill it. The first are those who, when they have heard it, begin with outward works; they desire to perform and fulfill it by works. How do they proceed? They say: God has commanded thou shalt have one God; I surely will worship no other God; I will serve him and no idol, and will have no heathen idolatrous image in my house or in my church; why should I do this? Such persons make a show with their glittering, fabricated service of God, like the clergy in our day, and they think they keep this law, when they bend their knees and are able to sing and prate much about God. By this show the poor laity also are deceived; they follow after and also desire to obey the law by their works. But the blind guides the blind and both fall into a pit, Luke 6:39. This is the first class, who take hold and imagine they will keep the law, and yet they do not.

5. The other class are those who know themselves by the law and study what it seeks and requires. For instance, when the law speaks: “Thou shalt have one God, and worship and honor him alone,” this same heart meditates: What does this mean? Shalt thou bend the knees? Or what is it to have one God? It surely is something else than a bodily, outward reverence; and finally it perceives that is a very different thing than is generally supposed; that it is nothing but having trust and hope in God, that he will help and assist in all anxiety and distress, in every temptation and adversity, that he will save him from sin, from death, from hell and from the devil, without whose help and salvation he alone can do nothing. And this is the meaning of having one God. A heart, so thoroughly humble, desires to have God, namely, a heart that has become quite terrified and shaken by this commandment, and in its anxiety and trouble flees to God alone.

6. This now the hypocrites and work-saints, who lead a fine life before the world, are not able to do; for their confidence is based alone upon their own righteousness and outward piety. Therefore, when God attacks them with the law and causes the poor people to see that they have not kept the law, aye, not the least of it, and when overwhelmed by anxiety and distress, and an evil conscience, and they perceive that external works will not suffice and that keeping the commandments of God is a very different thing from what they thought; then they rush ahead and seek ever more and more, and other and still other works, and fancy that they will thereby quiet their conscience; but they greatly miss the right way. Hence it comes to pass that one wishes to do it by rosaries, another by fasting; this one by prayer and that one by torturing his body; one runs to St. James, another to Rome, this man to Jerusalem, that to Aix; here one becomes a monk, another a nun, and they seek their end in so many ways that they can scarcely be enumerated.

7. Why do they do all this? Because they wish to save themselves, to rescue and help themselves. The consequence of this is great blasphemy of God, for they also boast mightily of these works, and vaunt and say: I have been in an order so long, I have prayed so many rosaries, have fasted so much, have done this and that; God will give me heaven as a reward. This then means to have an idol. This also is the meaning of Isaiah, when he says: “They worship the work of their own hands,” Isaiah 2:8. He is not speaking of stone and wood, but of the external works, which have a show of goodness and beauty before men. These hypocrites are ingenious enough to give the chaff to God and to keep the wheat for themselves.

This then is true idolatry, as St. Paul writes to the Romans: “Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples?” Romans 2:22. This is spiritual robbery.

8. Therefore you will find that there is nothing good in any man of himself.

But you have this distinction, that the upright, in whom the law has exercised its work, when they feel their sickness and weakness, say: God will help me; I trust in him; I build upon him; he is my rock and hope. But the others, as hypocrites and work-saints, when trial, distress and anxiety are at hand, lament and say: Oh, whither shall I go? They must at last despair of God, of themselves and of their works, even if they have ever so many of them.

9. Such in the first place are these false and unrighteous pupils of the law, who presume to fulfill it by their works. For they have an appearance and glitter outwardly, but in their hearts they have nothing but filth and uncleanness. Therefore they also merit nothing before God, who regards not external works that are done without any heart in them.

10. In the second place they are the true and real pupils, who keep the law, who know and are conscious that they do evil, and make naught of themselves, surrender themselves, count all their works unclean in the eyes of God, and despair of themselves and all their own works. They who do this, shall have no trouble, except that they must not deceive themselves with vain fruitless thoughts and defer this matter until death; for if anyone persistently postpones this until death, he will have a sad future.

11. But we must give heed that we do not despair, even if we still feel sinful inclinations and are not as pure as we would like to be. You will not entirely sweep out of your heart all this rubbish, because we are still flesh and blood. This much can surely be done: outward wicked deeds can be prevented and carnal, shameful words and works avoided, although it is attained with difficulty. But it will never come to pass here that you are free from lust and evil inclination. St. Jerome undertook to root such inclinations out of his heart by prayer, fasting, work and torture of the body; but he found out what he accomplished; it was of no avail, the concupiscence remained. Works and words can be restrained, but lust and inclinations no one can root out of himself.

12. In short, if you desire to attain the true righteousness that avails before God, you must despair altogether of yourself and trust in God alone; you must surrender yourself entirely to Christ and accept him, so that all that he has is yours, and all that is yours, becomes his. For in this way you begin to burn with divine love and become quite another man, completely born anew, and all that is in you is converted. Then you will have as much delight in chastity as before you had pleasure in unchastity, and so forth with all lusts and inclinations.

13. This now is the first work of God, that we know ourselves, how condemned, miserable, weak and sickly we are. It is then good and God’s will, that a man desponds and despairs of himself, when he hears: This shalt thou do and that shalt thou do. For everybody must feel and experience in himself, that he does not and cannot do it. The law is neither able nor is it designed to give you this power of obeying it; but it effects what St. Paul says: “The law worketh wrath,” Romans 4:15, that is, nature rages against the law, and wishes the law did not exist.

14. Therefore they who presume to satisfy the law by outward deeds, become hypocrites; but in the others it works wrath only, and causes sins to increase, as St. Paul says in another place: “The power of sin is the law.” 1 Corinthians 15:56. For the law does not take sin away, aye, it multiplies sin, and causes me to feel my sin. So he says again to the Corinthians: “The letter killeth,” 2 Corinthians 3:6, that is, the law works death in you; in other words, it reduces you to nothing; “but the Spirit giveth life.” For when he comes through the Gospel, the law is already fulfilled, as we shall hear.

15. Therefore the world errs, when it tries to make men righteous through laws; only pretenders and hypocrites result from such efforts. But reverse this and say as St. Paul says: The law produces sin. For the law does not help me the least, except that it teaches me to know myself; there I find nothing but sin; how then should it take sin away? We will now see how this thought is set forth in this Gospel. The text says: “When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were shut where disciples were for fear of the Jews.”

16. What do the disciples fear? They fear death; aye they were in the very midst of death. Whence came their fear of death? From sin, for if they had not sinned, they would not have feared. Nor could death have injured them; for the sting of death, by means of which it kills, is sin, Corinthians 15:56. But they, like us all, had not yet a true knowledge of God. For if they had esteemed God as God, they would have been without fear and in security; as David says: “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” <19D907> Psalm 139:7-10.

And as he says in another place: “In peace will I both lay me down and sleep; for thou, Jehovah, alone makest me dwell in safety,” Psalm 4:8. It is easy to die, if I believe in God; for then I fear no death. But whoever does not believe in God, must fear death, and can never have a joyful and secure conscience.

17. Now God drives us to this by holding the law before us, in order that through the law we may come to a knowledge of ourselves. For where there is not this knowledge, one can never be saved. He that is well needs no physician; but if a man is sick and desires to become well, he must know that he is weak and sick, otherwise he cannot be helped. But if one is a fool and refuses to take the remedy that will restore him to health he must certainly die and perish. But our papists have closed our eyes, so that we were not compelled, and not able, to know ourselves, and they failed to preach the true power of the law. For where the law is not properly preached, there can be no self-knowledge.

18. David had such knowledge, when he said: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalm 51:1ff. Just as if David wished to say: Behold, I am so formed of flesh and blood, which of itself is sin, that I cannot but sin. For although you restrain your hands and feet or tongue, that they sin not; the inclinations and lusts always remain, because flesh and blood are present, you may go whither you please, to Rome or to St. James.

19. If now an upright heart that comes to the point of knowing itself is met by the law, it verily will not begin and seek to help itself by works; but it confesses its sin and helplessness, its infirmity and sickness, and says: Lord God, I am a sinner, a transgressor of thy divine commandments: help thou, for I am lost. Now when a man is in such fear and cries out thus to God, God cannot refrain from helping him; as in this case Christ was not long absent from the disciples tormented by fear; but he is soon present, comforts them and says: “Peace be unto you!” Be of good courage; it is I; fear not. The same happens now. When we come to a knowledge of ourselves through the law and are now in deep fear, God arouses us and has the Gospel preached to us, by which he gives us a joyful and secure conscience.

20. But what is the Gospel? It is this, that God has sent his Son into the world to save sinners, John 3:16, and to crush hell, overcome death, take away sin and satisfy the law. But what must you do? Nothing but accept this and look up to your Redeemer and firmly believe that he has done all this for your good and freely gives you all as your own, so that in the terrors of death, sin and hell you can confidently say and boldly depend upon it, and say: Although I do not fulfill the law, although sin is still present and I fear death and hell, nevertheless from the Gospel I know that Christ has bestowed upon me all his works. I am sure he will not lie, his promise he will surely fulfill. And as a sign of this I have received baptism.

For he says to his apostles and disciples: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned,” Mark 16:15-16. Upon this I anchor my confidence. For I know that my Lord Christ has overcome death, sin, hell and the devil all for my good. For he was innocent, as Peter says: “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” 1 Peter 2:22. Therefore sin and death were not able to slay him, hell could not hold him, and he has become their Lord, and has granted this to all who accept and believe it. All this is effected not by my works or merits; but by pure grace, goodness and mercy.

21. Now whoever does not appropriate this faith to himself, must perish; and whoever possesses this faith, shall be saved. For where Christ is, the Father will come and also the Holy Spirit. There will then be pure grace, no law; pure mercy, no sin; pure life, no death; pure heaven, no hell. There I will comfort myself with the works of Christ, as if I myself had done them.

There I will no longer concern myself about cowls or tonsures, St. James or Rome, rosaries or scapularies, praying or fasting, priests or monks.

22. Behold, how beautiful the confidence towards God that arises in us through Christ! You may be rich or poor, sick or well, yet you will always say: God is mine, I am willing to die; for this is acceptable to my Father, and death cannot harm me; it is swallowed up in victory, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:57, yet not through us, but “Thanks be to God,” says he, “who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Therefore although we must die, we have no fear of death, for its power and might are broken by Christ, our Savior.

23. So then you understand that the Gospel is nothing but preaching and glad tidings, how Christ entered into the throes of death for us, took upon himself all our sins and abolished them; not that it was needful for him to do it, but it was pleasing to the Father; and that he has bestowed all this upon us, in order that we might boldly stand upon it against sin, death, Satan and hell. Hence arises great, unspeakable joy, such as the disciples here experience. The text says: “The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord” — not a Lord, who inspired them with terror or burdened them with labor and toil, but who provided for them and watched over them like a father is the lord of his estate and cares for his own. Aye, then first they rejoiced most on his account, when he spake to them: “Peace be unto you! It is I”, and when he had showed unto them his hands and feet, that is, his works, all which were to be theirs.

24. In the same manner he still comes to us through the Gospel, offers us peace and bestows his works upon us: if we believe, we have them; if we believe not, we have them not. For the Lord’s hands and feet really signify nothing but his works, which he has done here upon earth for men. And the showing of his side is nothing but the showing of his heart, in order that we may see how kind, loving and fatherlike his mind is toward us. All this is set forth for us in the Gospel as certainly and clearly as it was revealed and shown to the disciples bodily in our text. And it is much better that it is done through the Gospel than if he now entered here by the door; for you would not know him, even if you saw him standing before you, even much less than the Jews recognized him.

25. This is the true way to become righteous, not by human commandments, but by keeping the commandments of God. Now nobody can do this except by faith in Christ alone. From this flows love that is the fulfillment of the law, as St. Paul says in Romans 13:10. And this results not from the exercise of virtues and good works, as was taught hitherto, which produced only true martyrs of Satan and hypocrites; but faith makes righteous, holy, chaste, humble and so forth. For as Paul says to the Romans: “The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17. As if St. Paul should say: Your works will not save you but the Gospel will, if you believe; your righteousness is nothing, but Christ’s righteousness avails before God; the Gospel speaks of this and no other writing does. Whoever now wishes to overcome death and blot out sins by his works, says that Christ has not died; as St. Paul says to the Galatians, “If righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for naught.” Galatians 2:21. And they who preach otherwise are wolves and seducers.

26. This has been said of the first part of our Gospel, to show what is to be our attitude toward God, namely, we are to cling to him in faith; and it shows what true righteousness is that is availing before God and how it is attained, namely, by faith in Christ, who has redeemed us from the law, from death, sin, hell and the devil; and who has freely given us all this in order that we may rely upon it in defiance of the law, death, sin, hell and the devil. Now follows how we are to conduct ourselves toward our neighbor; this is also shown to us in the text, where the Lord speaks thus:

II. OF LOVE TO YOUR NEIGHBOR.

“As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

27. Why did God the Father send Christ? For no other purpose than to do the Father’s will, namely, to redeem the world. He was not sent to merit heaven by good works or to become righteous thereby. He did many good works, aye, his whole life was nothing else than a continual doing good.

But for whom did he do it? For the people who stood in need of it, as we read here and there in the Evangelists; for all he did, he did for the purpose of serving us. “As the Father hath sent me,” he says here, “even so send I you.” My Father hath sent me to fulfill the law, take the sin of the world upon myself, slay Death and overcome hell and the devil; not for my own sake, for I am not in need of it; but all for your sakes and in your behalf, in order that I may serve you. So shall you also do.

28. By faith you will accomplish all this. It will make you righteous before God and save you, and likewise also overcome death, sin, hell and the devil. But this faith you are to show in love, so that all your works may be directed to this end; not that you are to seek to merit anything by them; for all in heaven and earth is yours beforehand; but that you serve your neighbor thereby. For if you do not give forth such proofs of faith, it is certain that your faith is not right. Not that good works are commanded us by this Word; for where faith in the heart is right, there is no need of much commanding good works to be done; they follow of themselves. But the works of love are only an evidence of the existence of faith.

29. This also is the intent of St. Peter, when he admonishes us in Peter 1:5, to give diligence to make our faith sure and to prove it by our good works. But good works are those we do to our neighbor in serving him, and the only one thing demanded of a Christian is to love. For by faith he is already righteous and saved; as St. Paul says in Romans 13:8: “Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law.” Therefore Christ says to his disciples in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give unto, you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

30. In this way we must give proof of ourselves before the world, that everyone may see that we keep God’s commandment; and yet not that we would be saved or become righteous thereby. So then I obey the civil government for I know that Christ was obedient to the government, and yet he had no need to be; he did it only for our sakes. Therefore I will also do it for Christ’s sake and in behalf of my neighbor, and for the reason alone that I may prove my faith by my love; and so on through all commandments. In this manner the Apostles exhort us to good works in their writings; not that we become righteous and are saved by them, but only to prove our faith both to ourselves and others, and to make it sure.

The Gospel continues: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

31. This power is here given to all Christians, although some have appropriated it to themselves alone, like the pope, bishops, priests and monks have done: they declare publicly and arrogantly that this power was given to them alone and not to the laity. But Christ here speaks neither of priests nor of monks, but says: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit,” Whoever has the Holy Spirit, power is given to him, that is, to every one that is a Christian. But who is a Christian? He that believes. Whoever believes has the Holy Spirit. Therefore every Christian has the power, which the pope, bishops, priests and monks have in this case, to forgive sins or to retain them.

32. Do I hear then, that I can institute confession, baptize, preach and administer the Lord’s supper? No. St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:40: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” If everybody wished to hear confession, baptize and administer the Lord’s supper, what order would there be? Likewise, if everybody wished to preach, who would hear? If we all preached at the same time, what a confused babble it would be, like the noise of frogs! Therefore the following order is to be observed: the congregation shall elect one, who is qualified, and he shall administer the Lord’s supper, preach, hear confession and baptize. True we all have this power; but no one shall presume to exercise it publicly, except the one who has been elected by the congregation to do so. But in private I may freely exercise it. For instance, if my neighbor comes and says: Friend, I am burdened in my conscience; speak the absolution to me; then I am free to do so, but I say it must be done privately. If I were to take my seat in the church, and another and all would hear confession, what order and harmony would there be? Take an illustration: If there are many heirs among the nobility, with the consent of all the others they elect one, who alone administers the estate in behalf of the others; for if every one wished to rule the country and people, how would it be? Still they all alike have the power that he has who rules. So also is it with this power to forgive sins and to retain them.

33. But this word, to forgive sins or to retain sins, concerns those who confess and receive more than those who are to impart the absolution. And thereby we serve our neighbor. For in all services the greatest is to release from sin, to deliver from the devil and hell. But how is this done? Through the Gospel, when I preach it to a person and tell him to appropriate the words of Christ and to believe firmly that Christ’s righteousness is his own and his sins are Christ’s. This I say, is the greatest service I can render to my neighbor.

34. Accursed be the life, where one lives only for himself and not for his neighbor; and on the contrary, blessed be the life, in which one lives not for himself but for his neighbor and serves him by teaching, by rebuke, by help and by whatever manner and means. If my neighbor errs, I am to correct him; if he cannot immediately follow me, then I am to bear patiently with him; as Christ did with Judas, who had the purse with the money and went wrong and stole from it. Christ knew this very well; yet he had patience with him, admonished him diligently, although it did no good, until he disgraced himself.

35. So we are to give heed to do everything in behalf of our neighbor, and ever to be mindful, that Christ has done this and that for me; why should I not also for his sake freely do all for my neighbor? And see to it that all the works you do, are directed not to God, but to your neighbor. Whoever is a ruler, a prince, a mayor, a judge, let him not think that he is a ruler to gain heaven thereby or to seek his own advantage; but to serve the public. And so with other works, I assume to do for the good of my neighbor. For example if I take a wife, I make myself a captive; why do I do this? In order that I may not do harm to my neighbor’s wife and daughters, and thus may bring my body into subjection; and so forth with all other work:s.

36. Thus then you have finely portrayed in this Gospel, as in almost all the Gospel lessons these two thoughts, faith and love. Through faith we belong above to God: through love below to our neighbor. That we may thus lay hold of this truth may God give us his help! Amen.

narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "Just Written by Laity - False View of the Word":

While I can't speak for Pastor Rydecki, I would imagine that he would now say what WELS did to him and his parish was actually a blessing. In my opinion, this faithful pastor, while not possessing a doctorate, is a better theologian than most of the SynCon seminary profs combined.

A pastor told me years ago that many seminary profs, in order to be useful and boost their egos, feel the need to come up with new and innovative revelations. This could explain why the BOC is considered most useful as a door stop.

Courageous pastors, like Pastor Rydecki, who confront UOJ are rare, because, "We must obey retirement plans rather than God." (Acts 5:29, SynCon Translation)

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In contrast, here is ELS Pastor Jay Webber citing Marquart in favor of a Roman Catholic liberal, in favor of UOJ. A post by Brett Meyer reminded me of this debacle.

Marquart in blue:

29. JUSTIFICATION IN CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION

Matthew Warren

Church: Pastor Rick Warren's son commits suicide - Yahoo! News:

"LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) — The 27-year-old son of popular evangelical Pastor Rick Warren has committed suicide at his Southern California home, Warren's church said in a statement on Saturday.
Matthew Warren struggled with mental illness, deep depression and suicidal thoughts throughout his life. Saddleback Valley Community Church spokeswoman Kristin Cole said he died Friday night.
"Despite the best health care available, this was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life," the church statement said."

'via Blog this'

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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Icha-babies: The Early Years":

Rick Warren's Son Takes Own Life After Lifelong Battle With Mental Illness:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/rick-warrens-son-takes-own-life-after-lifelong-battle-with-mental-illness-93388/

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Joel has left a new comment on your post "Church: Pastor Rick Warren's son commits suicide -...":

Luther on suicide:
“I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil. They are like a man who is murdered in the woods by a robber. . . . They are examples by which our Lord God wishes to show that the devil is powerful and also that we should be diligent in prayer. But for these examples, we would not fear God. Hence he must teach us in this way.” [Vol. 54:29].

***

GJ - Walther said, "The closer to Luther, the better the theologian."

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2009/04/john-parlows-alma-mater-denvery.html
2009 post - now being viewed by multiple readers.



Michael Ray
Gender: Male
Industry: Communications or Media
Occupation: Film Reviewer
Location: Colorado
About Me
Michael is an artist with a background in directing and acting. He holds an MDiv. from Denver Seminary and a B.A. in English and a minor in Theatre from Colorado Christian University. He's been a musician, preacher, artist, puppeteer, editor, and writer.

Favorite Music
The Cars Fountains of Wayne The Strokes U2 REM and anything 80s pop.
Favorite Books
Authors: Steinbeck Baum Lewis Tolkien N.T. Wright.

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Quiz: Which one is a Babtist?

Preview free - or buy - the DMin paper.

Church and Chicanery Bigshot John Parlow, who worshiped with Ski at Northpoint Babtist in Atlanta, picked up a DMin at Denver Seminary. Here is his thesis, linked:

Dramatic sketches in weekend messages to increase cognitive retention of the main point and suggested application
by John M Parlow

Type: Thesis/dissertation : Manuscript Archival Material; English
Publisher: 2007.
Editions: 2 Editions
Dissertation: Thesis (D.Min.)--Denver Seminary, 2007.
OCLC: 183071617

Find a church where Denver graduates are serving:

St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church
2066 Lawrence Dr.
De Pere, WI 54115
920-336-2485


Note below how the Conservative Babtist Seminary dumped its name to market its product more effectively.

Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary. The school changed its name again in 1998 to Denver Seminary to reflect its growing appeal to a wide-spectrum of evangelical students, most of whom were no longer from the Conservative Baptists Association. This book gives a comprehensive overview of Denver Seminary’s history as it developed from a small denominational school to a major evangelical seminary under Grounds leadership. This statement was first used by Grounds to stake out Denver Seminary’s theological position in the midst of conflict between moderately conservative and ultra-conservative factions of the Conservative Baptist Association that eventually led the ultra-conservative faction to withdraw from the CBA and found the Conservative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). Craig Williford, 2000-present Denver Seminary is accredited by Association of Theological Schools, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and the prestigious Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP). Denver Seminary’s flagship training and mentoring program, started by former president Clyde McDowell, has distinguished the seminary from similar evangelical schools and led to a significant increase in student enrollment since it was launched in 1998. Denver Seminary Magazine, published quarterly since 1981, addresses current topics in the church and ministry and is distributed primarily to Denver Seminary alumni and other financial supporters.

That was from Wikipedia. The current version says this:

The school changed its name again in 1998 to Denver Seminary to reflect its growing appeal to a wide-spectrum of evangelical students, most of whom were no longer from the Conservative Baptists Association. Yet, the Seminary maintains its Baptist roots by requiring all full-time faculty to sign a doctrinal statement that is baptistic in nature. Students, staff, and adjunct faculty, however, are only required to sign the statement of faith used by the National Association of Evangelicals.

According to Ski, who blogged about worshiping at the Drive Conference (hosted by gay Babtist activist Andy Stanley), John Parlow was one of the 8 WELS participants. The photo above was taken at the Drive conference.



Michael Ray has nothin' on Busta Gut,official trademark of Church and Chicanery.SP Mark Schroeder has consistently rewarded theChurch and Changers with enormous grants.Ski was on the Changer board until I identified him and his Changer bio.

1 comment:

Welcome to St. John's Lutheran - The Word of the Lord Endures Forever - St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Milwaukee:

NEWS St. John's has been Hijacked!! - 3/20/2013 As of March 20th, St. John's has been hijacked by some rogue members. They are attempting to remove the Pastor, change the locks, take over the financial accounts and join with a local synod. Read more for the developing story. (MORE) Treasuring the Liturgy has been published - 3/17/2013 Daniel Baker has completed his extensive look at the Common Service. Please check it out and begin your journey through the historic Church liturgy. (MORE) New Web Site is Released - 3/15/2013 St. John's has released this new website to be able to better bring you new content and services. Check back frequently as we continue to add more content on the Lutheran Church and Confessions.

EVENTS

Easter Service - 3/31/2013
An Easter Service will be held on the sidewalk in front of St. John's at 6:00pm on March 31st. We will sing Acapella and stand for the service. Dress Warmly as it may be chilly. While the true St. john's is in Exile this will be the only way we can hold an Easter Service at St. Johns.

Christmas Eve Vespers - 12/22/2012
St. John's will host a Christmas Eve Vespers service on December 22nd. Come to celebrate the birth of our Lord using a traditional Christmas Eve Evening Vespers liturgy. We look forward to worshiping with you.
'via Blog this'

This is My Beloved Son, by Norma Boeckler.

Christ Revealed To All

Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, by Norma Boeckler.

First Sunday After Easter

Christ Revealed To All

Unity of the Word

Pastor Joel Lillo, Fox Valley, WELS has left a new comment on your post "Church: Pastor Rick Warren's son commits suicide -...":

Let me answer your questions with some other questions?

Why do you think I know something about this?

Even if I did know something, why should I tell you?

Are you a part of the chain of discipline in the Northern Wisconsin District and the WELS?

Again, why do you think I know something about this?

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GJ - Joel, it strains my credibility to imagine you do not know the answer to my questions -

1. Is Ski suspended covertly, as the COP imagines?
2. Was he given a paid vacation as a leave of absence, as The CORE and St. Peter, Freedom think?
3. Where is Ski?  The CORE website says nothing and St. Peter in Freedom says very little.

So why would this involve the "chain of discipline" in the Northern Wisconsin District? That sounds ominous.

I am full of wonder that there is such a thing as genuine discipline in your district. The CP was disciplined and replaced for correctly telling Glende that Tim was wrong when plagiarizing from Groeschel. Plagiarism is fraud and deceit, against the  law, by the way.

How about Bethany in Appleton stealing the Swindoll devotion and printing it as original?

Or Parlow's incessant plagiarism?

If anyone is concerned about matters in your circuit, excommunication and shunning follow.

But real discipline? Please.

Glende and pals thought they had to set up a blog, borrowing my blog's name, to attack me anonymousely. They also started a second one that slandered WELS members by name, so brazenly that it soon disappeared. That is against the law, by the way.

Who appointed them? Glende and Ski cannot write a sermon on their own. They have to download graphics from Craig Groeschel. They need to study and worship with gay activist Andy Stanley.

Glende thought SP Schroeder did a wonderful job with Joel Hochmuth, just before Joel offended again - many times over. Sin more that grace may abound, as St. Paul said (as a good example of false doctrine).

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Collect the money from the Milwaukee court, Ski.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "A New Concept from Pastor Joel Lillo - The Chain o...":

THE FOLLOWING IS A LISTING OF
CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT- UNCLAIMED FUNDS CIVIL DIVISION:

http://freeunclaimedfundslists.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2010/10/City-of-Milwaukee-2006.pdf

Skorzewski, James, 2674 N. Palmer Milwaukee WI $264.16

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http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=service&levelOneId=06AA951E-06AB-11DE-AC9C-EF5AFBC474DE&levelTwoId=06AA951E-06AB-11DE-AC9C-EF5AFBC474DE-5&serviceName=Court+and+Trust+Fund+Claim&finalSubLevel=2&intentId=E9E66310-8137-11DE-8E9F-96DAE110FEB8

Money paid to the courts for legal matters is held by the Department of Finance in an interest-bearing Court and Trust Fund Account. To claim money from this account, you must obtain a Certified Court Order.