Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Sensing that they are part of a hopeless minority there are evangelicals who would precipitate a new alignment among those of like mind. But some of us feel this could prove a disastrous tactic. ...
A 'rear guard' tactic has won many a battle thought to be lost. In the Church some of us feel strongly that this battle is the Lord's and that through a mighty work of the Holy Spirit all of Protestantism can be reclaimed to preach and live the Gospel in the midst of a lost world.
To amplify: by 'rear guard' tactic we mean that in season and out of season we live our lives in the clear light of God's revealed truth, witnessing to the power of the living Christ and His Spirit, to the Gospel of His cross and the power of His Word.
Then, leave the future in God's hands."
-- L. Nelson Bell, "Looking Ahead," Presbyterian Journal (May 21, 1969), p.13 quoted by cited by Frank J. Smith, The History of the Presbyterian Church in America, 35.


"And now that the Church is so thoroughly infiltrated with and compromised by the world, what should be done? Should we pull out and start a new Church of committed believers? In this writer's judgment that this the very last thing which Christians should do, although we respect the earnest convictions of those who differ with us about it.
The solution is, we believe, to continue to witness where it is so desperately needed -- within the Church, unless or until the individual's conscience is bound or his right to witness is denied. Separation is not the answer, for those who have separated from an organization no longer have either voice or vote in that organization."
-- L. Nelson Bell, "Separation Isn't the Answer," Presbyterian Journal (July 29, 1970), pp. 13,18 quoted by cited by Frank J. Smith, The History of the Presbyterian Church in America, 34.


[When] the Journal Board took its stand [to join the Steering Committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church] officially, one of the magazine's founders, painfully yet amicably, parted ways. In his last "A Layman and His Church" column, Dr. Bell wrote that there was no doctrinal issue imminently before the church, either in terms of ecclesiastical merger or a watered-down Confession of Faith. Therefore, while he still had the freedom to do so, he believed that he needed to be in the church bearing witness to the truth.
-- L. Nelson Bell, "Regretfully Yours," Presbyterian Journal (September 1, 1971), p. 13 cited by Frank J. Smith, The History of the Presbyterian Church in America, 35.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Those things in men, which, if they were known to others, would be sufficient to convince others that they are hypocrites, will not convince themselves; and those things which would be sufficient to convince them concerning others, and to cause them to cast others entirely out of their charity, will not be sufficient to convince them concerning themselves. They can make larger allowances for themselves than they can for others. They can find out ways to solve objections against their own hope, when they can find none in the like case for their neighbor.
-- Jonathan Edwards, "Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer"

Sunday, December 20, 2009

It is forgotten that a part of the Good news is to take a stand; that is part of the Good News in a broken, as well as lost, world. The very preaching of the Good News is taking a stand, but it's forgotten that [...] there isn't a dichotomy between the proclamation of the Word and caring for people's material needs with compassion and love, so also it must be emphasized that there is no dichotomy between preaching the Good News and taking a stand--and in fact, if there is nothing to take a stand upon there is no reason for preaching the Good News.
--Dr. Francis Schaeffer's presentation titled "A Day of Sober Rejoicing" from 16 June 1982 on the occasion of the Presbyterian Church in America receiving into its' body the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod

NOTE: The full text of this address is available at http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/schaeffer/JandR.pdf
To really understand the 30 year struggle between the liberal and conservatives in the Presbyterian Church U.S. which finally resulted inthe formation of the Presbyterian Church in America, one must go back to the time when Dr. L. Nelson Bell (Billy Graham's father-in-law), a medical missionary in China, returned to the United States in the late thirties or early forties and started practicing medicine in Asheville, North Carolina.
It didn't take Dr. Bell long to realize that a relatively small group of liberal ministers and seminary professors in the Presbyterian Church in the United States -- the so-called Southern Church -- were engaged in an organized effort to gain control of the church.
These men led by Dr. Ernest Trice Thompson -- a professor at Richmond Theological Seminary -- formed a secret organization which they called "The Fellowship of St. James."
They sought to have the church abandon its belief in the integrity and authority in the Bible, to water down the Westminster Confessionof Faith, and to participate more actively in teh National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.
Their primary goal, however, was to unite our church with the far more liberal and three times larger Prebyterian Church in the United States of America -- the Northern Church.
These men would get together before meetings of presbytery, synod and general assembly, decide who they would nominate for key positions, what motions would be made and who would present and speak to the motions. In effect they developed a political machine to control the actions of the church.
-- Kenneth S. Keys in "A Brief History of the Developments in the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern) which led to the Formation of the Presbyterian Church in America" from Presbyterian Church in America: A Manual for New Members

Saturday, December 12, 2009

"We must therefore take care that, if we depart from the opinions of those who went before us, we do not do so because excited by the itch after novelty, nor driven by fondness for deriding others, nor goaded by animosity, nor tickled by ambition, but only because compelled by pure necessity and with no other aim than to be of service."
-- John Calvin from a dedicatory epistle to Simon Grynaeus, 8 October 1539 quoted in B. A. Gerrish, The Old Protestantism and the New, 48.
In all these ways, Calvin revealed his consciousness of standing under the Word of God along with others. But perhaps the most striking token of his "pluralistic" attitude toward the Reformation and its theology is the interesting phenomenon of the Genevan "congregations," at which the Reformed pastors from the surrounding territory, together with a handful of devout lay people, gathered together to discuss some prearranged passage of Scripture. Calvin believed firmly that this was the proper manner to carry out the interpretation of Scripture. "For as long as there is no mutual exchange, each can teach what he likes. Solitude provides too much liberty."
-- B. A. Gerrish, The Old Protestantism and the New, 47 (The quote is from John Calvin's correspondence with Wolfgang Musculus, 12 October 1549.)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Child:That we place all our trust in God.
Minister:How is this done?
C:When we know him to be mighty and perfectly good.
M:Is this enough?
C:Far from it.
M:Why?
C:Because we are unworthy that he should exercise his power to help us, or for our salvation show us how good he is.
M:What then is needed further?
C:Just that each of us should affirm with his mind, that he is loved by him, and that he is willing to be his Father and the Author of his salvation.
M:Where will this be apparent to us?
C:In his Word, where he reveals his mercy to us in Christ, and testifies of his love toward us.
M:Then the foundation and beginning of faith in God is to know him in Christ? (John 17:3)
C:Quite so.
-- taken from John Calvin's Catechism of the Church of Geneva (1545) translated and printed in J. K. S. Reid's Calvin: Theological Treatises from The Library of Christian Classics

Thursday, December 3, 2009

"Reading maketh a full man,' wrote Lord Bacon, 'conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.'
-- Sir Francis Bacon, quoted by John T. McNeill in The History and Character of Calvinism, 101

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

It should come as no surprise that when one starts with the view that miracles cannot happen, the conclusion is that the miracles investigated did not happen.
-- Robert H. Stein in Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ

Monday, November 30, 2009

Notwithstanding my youth [note: about 20 years old] the ecclesiastical functions aroused in me more fear than joy, for I knew, and I remain convinced, that I must give account for the sheep that should perish through my negligence.
-- Ulrich Zwingli, quoted in John T. McNeil, The History and Character of Calvinism

Friday, November 27, 2009

"As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything." (Ecclesiastes 11:5, ESV)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Why was man created on Friday: So that, if he become overbearing, one can say to him, The gnat was created before you.
-- Tractate Sanhedrin 38a quoted in Montefiore and Lowe, A Rabbinic Anthology

Monday, November 16, 2009

Most Evangelicals, then, would agree that historical statements asserted in the Bible may be incomplete but not false. A more delicate question arises when it is suggested that incomplete information, in the very nature of the case, is defective and inevitably distorts the picture. This inference, however, is legitimate only when the given information is put to a use different from that intended by the writer.
-- Moises Silva, "Historical Reconstruction in New Testament Criticism" in D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, eds., Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon, 111

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Meanwhile, fires were being kindled everywhere... the stubborn resolution of those who were carried off to the gallows, where they were seen, for the most part, to be deprived of life rather than courage, stupefied several people. Because when they saw innocent, weak women submit to torture so as to bear witness to their faith, facing death calling out only to Christ, the Savior, and chanting various psalms; young virgins heading more joyfully for the gallows than they would have gone to the bridal bed; men exulting upon seeing the dreadful and frightful preparations for and implements of death which were readied for them, and half charred and roasted, they looked down from the stakes with invincible courage at the blows incurred from the hot pincers, bearing a brave mien; and sustaining themselves joyfully between the bayonets of the hangmen, they were like rocks standing against waves of sorrow, in short they died while smiling.
-- Florimond de Raemond, Histoire de la Naissance Progrez et Decadence de l'Heresie de ce Siecle (1605), translated by Solomon Langermann, quoted in Lewis W. Spitz' The Protestant Reformation, 1517-1559

[JOURNAL NOTE: The remarkable thing about this passage is that de Raemond had returned to Catholicism from Protestantism prior to composing it. Although it is not fair to call him a "hostile witness", there was little inclination among the sons of Rome towards ecumenism as the passage itself clearly reveals.]

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

For where things are as they should be, there is no need for small mission societies to be organized within the church, for the whole church must itself be a great mission society....
-- C. F. W. Walther, Brosamen quoted in Moving Frontiers, edited by Carl S. Meyer

Monday, October 26, 2009

[Although] man knows number and its secret he no longer knows that even number, which determines days, years and seasons, is not self contained, that it too rests only upon the Word and command of God. Number is not itself the truth of God. Like everything else it is his creature and it receives its truth from the Creator. We have forgotten this connexion. When we have number we believe we have truth and eternity. We become aware of this loss when we realize that mathematics too in the last resort does not transcend the world of the paradox. The end of godless calculation is in paradox, in contradiction. So it is for us. In the middle we hear of the world's beginning, as also in the middle we know of the fixed and of number, and not otherwise. But just in this way the world of the fixed is revealed to us anew in its essential being. Because we no longer understand number in its primary meaning we no longer understand the language of the fixed world. What we comprehend is the godless language we speak ourselves, the language of an eternal law of the world resting in itself, silent about the Creator and boasting about the creature. But when we hear of the Creator who in the beginning created the world we know of the lost connexion and believe in God as the Creator, without grasping how he rules over the world of the fixed, without seeing the world of the fixed, the world of number, in its true creatureliness. So we do not see the world of the fixed, of the unchangeable in its original state - the law has become autonomous - but we believe in God as its Creator.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

If any one attempted to rule the world by the Gospel, and put aside all secular law and the secular sword, on the plea that all are baptised and Christian, and that according to the Gospel, there is to be among them neither law nor sword, nor necessity for either, pray, what would happen? He would loose the bands and chains of the wild and savage beasts, and let them tear and mangle every one, and at the same time say they were quite tame and gentle creatures; but I would have the proof in my wounds.
-- Martin Luther in Secular Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed in John Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

There are very many who, when they hear of this freedom of faith, immediately turn it into an occasion for the flesh and think that now all things are allowed them. They want to show that they are free men and Christians only by despising and finding fault with ceremonies, traditions, and human laws; as if they were Christians because on stated days they do not fast or eat meat when others fast, or because they do not use the accustomed prayers, and with upturned nose scoff at the precepts of men, although they utterly disregard all else that pertains to the Christian religion. The extreme opposite of these are those who rely for their salvation solely on the reverent observance of ceremonies, as if they would be saved because on certain days they fast or abstain from meats, or pray certain prayers; these make a boast of the precepts of the church and of the fathers, and do not care a fig for the things which are of the essence of our faith. Plainly, both are in error because they neglect the weightier things which are necessary to salvation, and quarrel so noisily about trifling and unnecessary matters.
-- Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian in John Dillenburger, ed., Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Now we have said before, that the law in a Christian ought not to pass his bounds, but ought to have dominion only over the flesh, which is in subjection unto it, and remaineth under the same. When it is thus, the law is kept within his bounds. But if it shall presume to creep into thy conscience, and there seek to reign, see though play the cunning logician, and make the true division. Give no more to the law than belongest unto it, but say thou: 'O law, thou wouldest climb up into the kingdom of my conscience, and there reign to reprove it of sin, and wouldest take from me the joy of my heart, which I have by faith in Christ, and drive me to desperation, that I might be without all hope, and utterly perish. This thou doest besides thine office: keep thyself within thy bounds, and exercise thy power upon the flesh, but touch not my conscience; for I am baptized, and by the Gospel am called to the partaking of righteousness and of everlasting life, to the kingdom of Christ, wherein my conscience is at rest, where no law is, but altogether forgiveness of sins, peace, quietness, joy, health and everlasting life. Trouble me not in these matters, for I will not suffer thee, so intolerable a tyrant and cruel a tormentor, to reign in my conscience, for it is the seat and temple of Christ the Son of God, who is the king of righteousness and peace, and my most sweet saviour and mediator: he shall keep my conscience joyful and quiet in the sound and pure doctrine of the Gospel, and in the knowledge of this passive and heavenly righteousness.'"

-- Martin Luther in the Introduction to his A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians as printed in John Dillenberger's Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings.
Private individuals with their own cases are of three kinds. First, there are those who seek vengeance and judgment from the representatives of God, and of these there is now a very great number. Paul tolerates such people, but he dos not approve of them [...]. Nevertheless such will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless they have changed for the better by forsaking things that are merely lawful and pursuing those that are helpful. For that passion for one's own advantage must be destroyed.

In the second class are those who do not desire vengeance. On the other hand, in accordance with the Gospel [Matt. 5:40], to those who would take their coats, they are prepared to give their cloaks as well, and they do not resist any evil. [...]

In the third class are those who in persuasion are like the second type just mentioned, but are not like them in practice. They are the ones who demand back their own property or seek punishment to be meted out, not because they seek their own advantage, but through the punishment and restoration of their own things they seek the betterment of the one who has stolen or offended. They discern that the offender cannot be improved without punishment. These are called "zealots" and the Scriptures praise them. But no one ought to attempt this unless he is mature and highly experienced in the second class just mentioned, lest he mistake wrath for zeal and be convicted of doing from anger and impatience that which he believes he is doing from love of justice.

-- Martin Luther in a sermon on the "two kinds of righteousness", likely delivered in 1519. Quoted from John Dillenberger's Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings, 94-5. Emphasis is mine.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

[Luther] adds that human language is too limited to express adequately the lofty article of the Trinity; this doctrine so far surpasses human understanding that God as a kind Father will condone stammering and prattling of His children so long as their faith is correct; this term expresses the Church's faith as well as can be done in human language, for the word Trinity conveys the Christian knowledge of God, namely, that the Divine Majesty is three distinct Persons in one divine essence. (St. L. XII:628 f.)
-- F. Pieper, "Doctrine of God" from Christian Dogmatics, Vol. I
If anyone raises the objection that the terms essence and person are not sufficiently restrictive to express the mystery of the unity in the Trinity, then we may answer with Augustine: 'Human language labors under a truly great paucity of words. We speak of three persons not in order to say just that, but rather so as not to be silent altogether (De Trin. V)'
-- F. Pieper, "Doctrine of God" from Christian Dogmatics, Vol. I

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Kingsbury describes the implied reader as the imaginary person in whom the intention of the text is to be thought of as reaching its fulfillment. To read in this way, it is necessary to know everything that the text assumes the reader knows and to "forget" everything that the text does not assume the reader knows. The critic should ask the questions that the text assumes its reader will ask but should not be distracted by questions that the implied reader would not ask. The implied reader, furthermore, is not necessarily to be thought of as a first-time reader. In some instances the narrative text apparently assumes the reader will come to an understanding only after multiple readings.

-- Mark Allan Power, What is Narrative Criticism? Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

And though I love you, still we're strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still His light shines in the dark

And His outstretched arms
Are still strong enough to reach
Behind these prison bars
To set us free

So may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls, the drought has dried

In His Blood and in His Body
In this Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

-- second verse and chorus to "Peace (A Communion Blessing from St. Joseph Square)" by Rich Mullins

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Alphaeus reached out to gather Little Salome up to him.
"You don't worry," he said. "Once it was Cyrus the King who watched over us, now it's Augustus Ceasar. We don't care, because the Lord in Heaven is the only King we know in our hearts, and what man thinks he is King here on Earth, we don't care."
"But David was King of Israel," I said. "David was King, and Solomon after him. And King Josiah, he was a great King of Israel. We've known this for as long as we've known anything. And we're the House of David, and the Lord said to David, 'I will make you reign over Israel forever.' Isn't that so?"
"Forever..." Alphaeus said. "But who is to judge the ways of the Lord? The Lord will keep his promise to David in the Lord's way."
He looked away as he spoke. We were in the valley now. The crowd of those coming out of the mountains was large. We pressed together. "Forever... what is forever in the mind of the Lord?" he said. "A thousand years is nothing but a moment to the Lord."
"A King will come?" I asked.
Joseph turned and looked at me.
"The Lord keeps his promises to Israel," said Alphaeus, "but how and when and in what way we don't know."
--- Yeshua bar Joseph, age 7, conversing with his kindred (from Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt by Anne Rice, pp. 92-93

Sunday, August 16, 2009

This third boat scene [Mk 8:14-21] is climactic in emphasizing the incomprehension of the disciples. By citing the feeding miracles and addressing such matters as lack of perception, hardened hearts, and the failure to remember, Jesus' words recapitulate the substance of the three boat scenes and the two feeding miracles. Despite auspicious beginnings, the disciples, by the end of this series of scenes and miracles, show themselves to be like "outsiders." Like "outsiders," they "think the things not of God, but of humans" and regard reality from a this-worldly point of view. Of course, unlike "outsiders," the disciples follow Jesus and are "with him" in commitment to his cause. Accordingly, incomprehension on the one hand and commitment on the other are hallmark traits of the disciples. Jesus' struggle with them is to lead them to overcome their incomprehension lest it undermine their commitment to him. This is the central issue in Jesus' relationship with the disciples, and this third boat scene highlights it vividly.
--- Jack Dean Kingsbury, Conflict in Mark, 101-102

Sunday, August 9, 2009

[Humans] experience Jesus not only as an extraordinary figure but also as an immensely controversial one. They regard him in numerous, conflicting ways that run the gamut from abject repudiation as the agent of Satan to acclamation as the Son of God. In point of fact, the centurion at the cross is the only human other than Jesus himself to recognize Jesus to be the Son of God and thus to express an understanding of him that tallies with God's understanding. This shows, therefore, that, for humans, Jesus' identity remains surrounded by an aura of mystery until the end of Mark's story. Moreover, it also suggests that humans cannot perceive aright who Jesus is until they view his entire life and ministry from the perspective of the cross. To view Jesus from any other perspective is in some sense inadequate or wholly false.
--- Jack Dean Kingsbury, Conflict in Mark, 6

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Only when man feels himself responsible for the future can he have hope or despair, but when he thinks of himself as the passive victim of an extremely complex technological bureaucracy, his motivation falters and he starts drifting from one moment to the next, making life a long row of randomly chained incidents and accidents.
--- Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, 9

[Peter] himself did not know exactly what he was looking for, but he had a general, all-pervading feeling of confusion.
--- ibid, 12

For him the liberals and progressives are fooling themselves by tryingto make an intolerable situation more tolerable. He is tired of pruning trees; he wants to pull out the roots of a sick society.
--- ibid, 18

Thursday, July 30, 2009

A hundred years ago Diderot, the notorious French encyclopedist, wrote: "Better times will not come for the world until the last king shall have been hanged with the guts of the last priest." [...]

If only theologians and teachers of religion would not make themselves so contemptible and hated by their own fault! Alas! this sad fact is recorded not only in the annals of the history of the Church, but it is also confirmed by our own experience. There are too many teachers of religion who misuse their sacred office, their sacred profession and calling, for the gratification of their worldly minds, their greed of money and glory, and their love of domineering. They do not only hush and even deny the truth continually, partly from a miserable fear of men, partly from an abominable favor of men, but instead of preaching the pure Gospel, they proclaim the very opposite and spread lies and errors. Why, there is no vice too shameful, no crime too awful, but teachers of religion have desecrated their office with it and have given the world offense, grievous beyond utterance.

Is this fact to deter you, my friends, from continuing your devotion to the study of theology? God forbid! Consider, in the first place, that the omniscient God has foreseen these sad events and has nevertheless in His infinite wisdom adopted this order of administering the sacred office, not through the holy angels, who did not fall from their holy estate, but through fallen men, who are subject to sin.

--- C.F.W. Walther, "Thirty-Ninth Evening Lecture (November 6, 1885)", The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

"If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that." 1 John 5:16 [ESV]
This passage contains important information for us, but we cannot act upon it. For we can say of no person before his death that he has committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. [...] This is a shocking statement, and yet it contains a great comfort. Some one may come to you and say: 'I am a wretched man - I have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. I am quite certain of it.' The afflicted may well tell you of the evil he has done, the evil he has spoken, and the evil he has thought. It may really look as if he had blasphemed the Holy Ghost. Now remember the weapon which Heb. 6 furnishes for attacking a case like this: That person is not at all rejoicing over what he tells you; it is all so awfully horrid to him. This shows that God has at least begun to lead him to repentance; all that he need do is to lay hold of the promise of the Gospel. [...] A case like this is indeed not to be treated lightly; the sufferer must be shown that, since there is in him the beginning of repentance, he has an indubitable proof that he has not committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. In general, when preaching on this subject, the minister must aim at convincing his hearers that they have not committed this sin rather than warn them not to commit it. To a person who has really committed this sin preaching is of no benefit. Whoever is sorry for his sins and craves forgiveness should be told that he is a dear child of God, but is passing through a terrible tribulation.

--- C.F.W. Walther, "Thirty-Eighth Evening Lecture (October 23, 1885)", The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel

Sunday, July 26, 2009

This tension between God's electing love and his holy justice is resolved at the cross: there one who embodied faithful Israel - one who had himself been all that God had intended for Israel to be, God's chosen one, his own Son - bears the penalty of divine judgment for sin.
-- Tremper Longman III and Raymond B. Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2nd ed, 165.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

H.M. Orlinsky maintains that if it were not for the vicarious element in Christian theology (derived from Hellenism according to him), no one would have ever thought of seeing anything substitutionary in this passage [Isaiah 52:13-53:3]. But I suspect the opposite is true: if it were not for the vicarious element in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, which has so many analogues in Isa. 53, there would be no barrier to recognizing the obvious substitutionary elements in that chapter.
-- John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66, page 377, note 71

Sunday, July 19, 2009

It seems equally likely that the import of the section is that the Israel of [Isaiah] 2:6-4:1 can only fulfill the dstiny given her in 2:2-4 by experiencing the judgment expressed throughout 2:6-4:1 and the purification described in 4:2-6. This schema would correspond well with the thought of ch. 1 and indeed the whole book: proud, self-sufficient Israel can become the witness to the greatness of God only when she has been reduced to helplessness by his just judgment and then restored to life by his unmerited grace.
-- John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah Chapters 1-39

Thursday, July 16, 2009

"Dannhauer, in his Hodosophia, uttered an important axiomatic truth by saying: Sin is as great as He is who is offended by it."
--- C.F.W. Walther, "Thirty-First Evening Lecture (June 12, 1885)", The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

"In your sermons you like to treat subjects like these: 'The blessed state of a Christian,' and the like. Well, do not forget that the blessedness of Christians does not consist in pleasant feelings, but in their assurance that in spite of the bitterest feelings imaginable they are accepted with God and in their dying hour will be received into heaven. That is indeed a great blessedness."

-- C.F.W. Walther, "Twenty-Ninth Evening Lecture (May 29, 1885), The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Salvation is not just future, as in Pharisaic Judaism, nor an enhancement of the present, as at Qumran, nor so strongly present, as in Gnosticism. It is present, for with Christ the new aeon has come and believers are drawn into it as they die and rise again with him. Yet their hope is set on future salvation when their transformation comes, creation is freed, and God’s rule over every power is manifested. Negatively salvation is deliverance from wrath, and positively it is the attainment of glory. Either way the message of Christ crucified and risen fixes the content. NB: All emphases mine.
-- Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1995, c1985). Theological dictionary of the New Testament. Translation of: Theologisches Worterbuch zum Neuen Testament. (1137). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

"Knowing the works and history of Christ is not yet knowing the true Gospel; for that does not embrace the knowledge that He has conquered sin, death, and the devil. Even so, knowing the doctrine and commandments recorded in the New Testament is not yet knowing the Gospel; but this is the Gospel, when you hear the voice which tells you that Christ is your own with His life, teaching, works, His dying, His rising from death, and everything that He is, has, does, and is able to do."

-- C.F.W. Walther, "Twenty-Seventh Evening Lecture (May 8, 1885), The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

"[They] stumble at our doctrine that God has not foreseen anything in the elect that could have prompted Him to elect them, but that His election is one of unconstrained mercy. They are shocked because [...] we teach that there are only two causes of salvation, namely, the mercy of God and the merit of Christ. They imagine that God is partial, saying He elects some and neglects others, reprobating them. This is an inference which they draw, and it is one for which they deserve no commendation. Instead o trying to save God from the charge of partiality by assuming a difference in the person whom He elects when compared with the others, they should consider that man is justified and saved by faith, not on account of faith."

"To cite Gerhard once more, he writes (Lov. de justific., para. 179): 'It is one thing to be justified on account of faith and another to be justified by faith. In the former view, faith is the meritorious, in the latter, the instrumental cause. [There must be an organ by which I come into the possession and enjoyment of what someone offers me.] We are not justified on account of faith as a merit, but by faith which lays hold of the merit of Christ.' It is not my own merit that saves me, but the merit of Christ.

"[...] When I hold out my hand, I make a motion. This point must not be pressed in the case of man's faith. For it is God who prompts the holding out of the hand after He has prepared a sinner for the Gospel by means of the Law."

-- C.F.W. Walther, "Twenty-Fifth Evening Lecture (April 24, 1885), The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel

Monday, July 6, 2009

"A preacher must be able to preach a sermon on faith without ever using the term faith. It is not important that he din the word faith into the ears of his audience, but it is necessary for him to frame his address so as to arouse in every poor sinner the desire to lay the burden of his sins at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and say to Him: "Thou art mine, and I am Thine. [...]

"Suppose you were picturing to a horde of Indians theLord Jesus, telling them that He is the Son of God who came down from heaven to redeem men from their sins by taking the wrath of God upon Himself, overcoming death, devil, and hell in their stead and opening heaven to all men, and that every man can now be saved merely accepting what our Lord Jesus Christ has brought to us. Suppose that you were suddenly struck down by the deadly bullet of a hostile Indian lying in ambush. It is possible that, dying, you would leave behind you a small congregation of Indians though you may not even once have pronounced the word faith to them. For every one in that audience who did not wantonly and wilfully resist divine grace would have to reason that he, too, has been redeemed.

"On the other hand, you may spend a lot of time tellingmen that they must believe if they wish to be saved, and your hearers may get the impression that something is required of them which they must do. They will begin to worry whether they will be able to do it, and when they have tried to do it, whether it is exactly the thing that is required of them. Thus you may have preached a great deal about faith without delivering a real sermon on faith. [...] To be saved by faith means to acquiesce in God's plan of salvation by simply accepting it."

-- C.F.W. Walther, "Twenty-Fourth Evening Lecture (April 10, 1885), The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel

Saturday, July 4, 2009

"Zuntz speaks of his 'strong impression' that 'something very important was being put forward here with a superior purpose and concentration throughout the book... The style and content of the story arouse a feeling of otherness, a feeling that this is not history like other histories, not a biography like other biographies, but a development of the actions, sayings, and sufferings of a higher being on his way through this anxious world of human beings and demons.'"
-- R. T. France in The Gospel of Mark quotes Gunther Zuntz's account of his experience from H. Cancik (ed.), Markusphilologie, 207. Zuntz was a German classical scholar who was, but his own admission, familiar with the literature of the Roman empire, but quite unfamiliar with Christianity and its literature.

Monday, April 20, 2009

"[The] Word of God is not rightly divided [between Law and Gospel] when a description is given of faith, both as regards to its strength and the consciousness and productiveness of it, that does not fit all believers at all times." (emphasis added)
-- C.F.W. Walther, Thesis XVII, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Psalm 3 in Homiletics

I was given the opportunity to tell another "Bible Story" in Homiletics class last week. This time I chose the story of David and Absalom; however, as I prepared for it, I decided to emphasize the overlap between this story and the psalm David wrote as a response to it. The manuscript below is not exactly what I presented in class. I made a number of changes at the last minute in class before presenting; in particular, I distributed the psalm "verses" differently than in what follows. -- Brian

You have heard it said that the psalms are a prayer book for God's people: a wealth of prayers we take on our own lips in times of plenty, need or distress. The psalmists call out to Yahweh with honesty: they cry about their needs, their feelings of abandonment, and their anxieties about how long they must suffer. They praise Him for justice, deliverance and His mighty deeds.

Consider Psalm 3, which was composed by King David when he fled Jerusalem from a conspiracy led by his own son, Absalom. How does this man, who has been promised an everlasting throne, react to this unfortunate turn of events?

Absalom had been playing the "man of the people" for four years and turning their hearts to himself! Unbeknownst to David, Absalom makes arrangements for the tribes of Israel to acclaim him as king while he is at Hebron. Afterwards, a messenger takes word of this conspiracy to David at Jerusalem. Surely David is caught off guard, but he is forced to action. He chooses to leave Jerusalem, rather than risk the city falling by the sword.

Oh LORD, how many are my enemies!
Many are rising against me


David understands that the LORD works at his own time and by the means he chooses. He may benefit from the LORD's servants; he may fall before the LORD's representatives; or he may serve as a tool in the LORD's hand!

As his company leaves Jerusalem, Abiathar the priest and Zadok of the Levites offer to bring the ark into exile with him. David's reply: 'If I have found favor with the LORD, I will return to this city to see both it and you.'

More news of the conspiracy arrives. Ahithophel, David's own valued counselor, has joined Absalom. David has such a high view of Ahithophel's counsel, he immediately petitions the LORD to turn that counsel to foolishness!

Further from Jerusalem, a man from Saul's house named Shimei hurls curses and rocks at David's company. He claims the success of the conspiracy and David's displacement by his own son is the LORD's repayment to David for his own path of blood. David wonders: Was this what Yahweh meant, when he said that the sword would never depart from his house?

Many are saying of my soul -
there is no salvation for him in God.
Selah


Yahweh is not behind Absalom's treachery; He is already fighting on David's behalf through Ahithophel's bad counsel! Instead of immediately pursuing David's company into the wilderness, Ahithophel advises that Absalom focus on adding insult to David's injury by sleeping with his concubines. Only then does he suggest that he pursue David while his company is tired and demoralized.

But you, Oh LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.


David's friend and servant Hushai had sought to join him in exile, but David commanded him to return to the palace as a spy and enter Absalom's service. Absalom had initially challenged Hushai's change in loyalties, but then accepted him into his court. So now that Ahithophel is finally advising pursuit, Hushai is quick to intervene. He counsels caution: If David's mighty men were to engage a smaller force, the report of the battle might melt the heart Israel's men before they could gather in force. When Absalom accepts his advice, he passes word to David.

I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill.

Selah


On word from Hushai, David's company crosses the river and heads into the wilderness. Weary from the journey, but safer after crossing the river, David's company rests at the city of Mahanaim. Here they receive shelter and provisions.

I lay down and slept.
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.


After the men of Israel finally assemble, Absalom leads them down against David. They camp in the land of Gilead as David musters his men in Mahanaim. Even though David wishes join his men in battle, his commanders insist that David remain behind, because the opposing forces would be most concerned with striking David down in order to establish Absalom on the throne.

I will not be afraid of many thousands of men
who have set themselves against me
all around.


The battle is joined in the forests of Ephraim; on that day twenty thousand men die. More die to the forest, they say, than to the sword.

Arise, Oh LORD!
Save me, oh my God!
You strike all my enemies on the check,
you break the teeth of the wicked.


The servants of David are victorious, but David knows from whom victory truly comes.

Salvation belongs to the LORD
Your blessing be upon your people.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

"Telling a Bible Story" in Homiletics

The following story was told by the author in Homiletics class last week. Since I tell most of the story in second-person, it is worth remembering that I was speaking to a classroom full of young men preparing to enter the pastoral ministry. Despite that, I think it applies well to all Christians; so, since I recently put up a couple of posts about baptism, this also seemed appropriate. -- Brian

"In the eighth chapter of Acts, Luke records that an Ethiopian eunuch, who was also a worshipper of Yahweh, was riding in his chariot on the south road into the desert. He had come to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and was now returning to his home.

"He didn't know he was about to experience a Spirit-scheduled appointment with the Gospel of Jesus Christ at this very place and time. To be honest, if we were reading this story from Acts for the first time, we wouldn't know it either. Because we would be getting the story as Luke gave it to us, we would know that a man named Philip has been sent by the angel of the Lord to this very place at this very time. So we might guess that something is about to happen, but even Philip doesn't know why he has been sent to this road south of Jerusalem when this chariot is riding on it.

"What time is it, by the way? We do not know for sure, but we do know some things: Jesus' resurrection and the ascension have already passed. Pentecost has come and gone, and the apostles are diligently about the work of prayer and proclaiming the good news. Many thousands have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, and Philip is one of a group of seven men that have been selected by the apostles to administer the distribution of food to the widows. One of the other men from this group of seven, named Stephen, has been martyred for proclaiming Christ to the Sanhedrin, and a severe persecution has caused the believers to scatter out of Jerusalem.

"But Jesus has said to the apostles 'you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth' and he wasn't ready to leave the Ethiopians without a witness to the Gospel! So imagine you are Philip. You've been driven out of Jerusalem into Samaria after Stephen, your brother in the faith, has been stoned to death for proclaiming 'Jesus is the Christ'. What do you think you are doing? Hiding?!? You are out preaching the Word!

"And you have been led to this south-bound road and you are told by the Spirit to join this chariot. Remember: You are clueless as to what will happen next! As you walk up to this chariot, you hear its occupant reading from the book of Isaiah:

"'Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his vhumiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.'

"A short time ago, these verses sounded very different to you. You might have been thinking of Isaiah, or you may have been thinking of the temple sacrifices, but you were certainly not thinking of your Lord and Savior, Jesus. Things are different for you now; this man has just read about the Messiah and he might not know who he is! So you ask the man in the chariot: 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

"He replies, 'No. I'm a really smart guy; I've got the training to prove it. I've learned to read and write, and I'm such a good money-manager that I am in charge of a queen's treasury. But I still find the prophets really difficult to understand unless someone helps me interpret.'

"Although we weren't sure before, now we all know why you are here! The Spirit has given you a gift that this man does not have, and the Spirit is going to use you to give that gift to this man. So you start out right where this man is; you work from this passage in Isaiah and explain the good news of the lamb of God in Christ Jesus, whose blood was shed for him, for you and for all people.

"Just imagine how the angels in heaven are rejoicing along with you when this Ethiopian says to you, 'Amazing! And you say all this is mine through baptism? There's water right here! Stop the chariot right now! I believe! Why shouldn't I be baptized?'

"That is why you were brought to this time and place."

Doesn't that make baptism a work? Sure enough!

But some are accustomed to ask, "If baptism is itself a work and you say that works are of no use for salvation, what place is there for faith?" Answer: Yes, it is true that our works are of no use for salvation. Baptism, however, is not our work, but God's work (for, as was said, you must distinguish Christ's baptism quite clearly from a bath-keeper's baptism). God's works are salutary and necessary for salvation, and they do not exclude but rather demand faith, for without faith one cannot grasp them. Just by allowing the water to be poured over you, you do not receive or retain baptism in such a manner that it does you any good. But it becomes beneficial to you if you accept it as God's command and ordinance, so that, baptized in God's name, you may receive in the water the promised salvation.

-- Martin Luther, "Fourth Part: Concerning Baptism", Large Catechism

On Baptism

[We] ought to regard baptism as much greater and more precious because God has commanded it. What is more, it is performed in his name. So the words read, "Go, baptize," not "in your name" but "in God's name." Tobe baptized in God's name is to be baptized not by human beings but by God himself. Although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God's own act. [...]

Note the distinction then: Baptism is a very different thing from all other water, not by virtue of the natural substance but because here something nobler is added, for God himself stakes his honor, his power, and his might on it. Therefore it is not simply a natural water, but a divine, heavenly, holy, and blessed water - praise it in any other terms you can - all by virtue of the Word. [...]

"The one who believes and is baptized will be saved," that is, faith alone makes the person worthy to receive the saving, divine water profitably. Because such blessings are offered and promised in the words that accompany the water, they cannot be received unless we believe them from the heart. [...]

Baptism is simply water and God's Word in and with each other; that is, when the Word accompanies the water, baptism is valid, even though faith is lacking. For my faith does not make baptism; rather, it receives baptism. Baptism does not become invalid if it is not properly received or used, as I have said, for it is not bound to our faith but to the Word.

-- Martin Luther, "Fourth Part: Concerning Baptism", Large Catechism

Saturday, March 21, 2009

enculturation

noun "the process whereby individuals learn their group's culture, through experience, observation, and instruction."

enculturation. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enculturation (accessed: March 21, 2009).

The picture below features a calabash bowl, which are used in Togo at tchakpa stands. We had a number of occasions to join with the folks from Dapaong sampling the local strains of tchakpa, a fermented millet drink. The calabash bowls smell like hay or the inside of barn, which combines in a very unusual way with the tchakpa. However, I can tell you from personal experience that the smell of hay is even wierder when combined with Schlafly's Pale Ale!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

On Psalm 1:2 "His Delight is in the Law of the Lord"

"However, there are some even today who strive to twist this prophet's mouth and pervert his tongue. By their inflated thoughts and twisted works they want the law of the Lord to be in their pleasure and not their delight in the law of the Lord. This also the Jews wanted (beyond the fact that their delight was not in the law of the Lord, as stated above) when they desire that what pleases them, what they determine, what they affirm to be acceptable to God. But in this way they set up the Law for God, as if He were bound to take what they wished and chose, rather than that they received the Law from Him in order to do what He chooses and wishes. Such people, I say, chiefly many of the religious now are. They have reserved judgment to themselves beyond the command of their superior, and they want to make their own decisions and teach him what he ought to be commanding them. Or certainly, before they do what they are ordered to do, they want him to give the reason for it and to show them why and for what purpose he issued this order. [emphasis added] [...] And they would not do it except because they have the arrogance to want to do the judging and not be judged, and their delight is not in His law, but precisely His law is at their pleasure. Now certainly this is not being under the superior but over him."

-- Martin Luther, "Psalm 1", Luther's Works, Vol. 10: First Lectures on the Psalms. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1974.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Back from Togo

A copy of the email sent to my immediate family about my return follows. The blog for my notes mentioned in the letter below is found at http://journalingoutofafrica.blogspot.com/

"Family,

I returned home safely and on-time yesterday. I was not (and still am not) in a state of mind to write a meaningful "here's how it went" email, but I wanted to let you know that I am back safely.

Here's a short takeaway from the experience: The church in Africa is, in all the ways that truly matter, just like the church here. You can point to particular issues and challenges that are unique to or aggravated by the African context, but it doesn't take much thinking to realize that we have our own particular issues and challenges that are unique to or aggravated by our American context. The language is often different; the idiom definitely is; the cultural norms vary widely. However, the One we have in common binds us together in a way that transcends culture as he enters directly through his word, his body and his blood. I'll have more to write on this when I finally get around to it, but that's going to have to wait.

I took too many pictures to fit on the camera and my flash drive didn't make it on the trip with me; so my pictures ended up on Dr. Schumacher's computer. In fact, all of our pictures did; Dr. Schumacher is going to distribute the whole set (i.e. pictures, sound files, a few videos files) on a CD. Unfortunately, Dr. Schumacher is with his wife in Switzerland for a week (she works in the international school there and he visits regularly); so I am without the means to tell an effective story until he returns. I'm planning to post a very slightly redacted version of my twenty-two pages of notes in the form of a blog over the coming days and weeks; that'll probably be the best way to get the story telling started. I will welcome your questions, especially if you will post them the blog so I can answer them for everyone at the same time.

May the peace of Christ remain with you all in the coming days!

Brian

PS: David, although many years have passed, Glenn did remember you. I passed your greetings (as I assumed you would have wished me to). You were right: that guy has a lot going on upstairs."

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Here's a Rosenkoetter family send off if I ever saw one! The kids suggested chocolate chip pancakes to Heather, and they were busy making them when I woke up this morning. (Note the shape of the pancake on the right. Heather is so creative!)

Into Africa

So what does it take to go to Africa? Let's see...



In reality, that big black bag is almost all for the local LCMS missionary (Rev. Glenn Fluegge)'s family. My traveling companions split up the stuff to carry over!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What is meant by two kinds of human righteousness? Theologically, to be righteous is to be human as God envisioned in creation, and again in redemption. One might modify the Athanasian dictum to say, ‘‘God became fully human that we might become fully human.’’ The distinction between two kinds of righteousness rests upon the observation that there are two dimensions to being a human creature. One dimension involves our life with God, especially in the matters of death and salvation. The other dimension involves our life with God’s creatures and our activity in this world. In the former we receive righteousness before God through faith on account of Christ. In the latter, we achieve righteousness in the eyes of the world by works when we carry out our God-given responsibilities.
-- Arand, Charles P., "Two Kinds of Righteousness as a Framework for Law and Gospel in the Apology," Lutheran Quarterly 3 (Autumn 2000): 281-308.

Monday, February 16, 2009

God's Mission is My Mission

Our personal involvement in God's mission takes place wherever we are - wherever God has placed us. Each of us, in our "station" or "calling" in life, is called to serve God and bear witness to his grace - whether as child, parent, husband, wife, citizen, employee, employer, government official, soldier, police officer, teacher, construction worker. As we serve faithfully "as to the Lord" (Ephesians 6:7), opportunities will arise to testify by word and deed to the hope that is within us as a result of our faith in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15). On our shrinking planet, God provides numerous opportunities for witness and service where we live and far beyond."
-- A Theological Statement on Mission, Saint Louis, MO: LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations, 1991.

God's Mission is for Everyone

As it strives to bring Christ's love and forgiveness to everyone, the church is reminded constantly of its own need for that same love and forgiveness. God's mission is to and for everyone - including those who claim it as their own. Because they "daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment" (Small Catechism, The Lord's Prayer), God's people, daily living in their Baptism, need to look to Christ's cross for forgiveness to be renewed and invigorated for their God-given task.

-- A Theological Statement on Mission, Saint Louis, MO: LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations, 1991.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Truly Ablaze - Who is an Evangelist? You Are!

"Taken to the extreme, a successful Ablaze! Movement implies that LC-MS World Mission would no longer be needed. What would replace LC-MS World Mission would be a sustainable movement of Christian people from the pews in which they sit, with the single objective of joining the thousands of Christians before them in telling all the unbelievers the words of Christ."
-- David J. Vaughn, "A Policy Analysis of the Ablaze! Movement", Missio Apostolica. Vol XVI, No. 2 (Issue 32), November 2009. The Lutheran Society for Missiology, Inc.: 2008.

NOTE: For anyone desiring more information on the Lutheran Society for Missiology, click here.

Monday, February 9, 2009

"The interpreter does not interpret the Scriptures, but the Scriptures interpret the interpreter."
-- Oswald Bayer, Autoritat und Kritik: zur Kermeneutik und Wissenschaftstheorie. Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1991.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

On "Meat Sacrificed to Idols" II

"Thus we think about the mass. But in all these matters we will want to beware lest we make binding what should be free, or make sinners of those who may do some things differently or omit others. All that matters is that the Words of Institution should be kept intact and that everything should be done by faith. For these rites are supposed to be for Christians, i.e., children of the "free woman" [Gal. 4:31], who observe them voluntarily and from the heart, but are free to change them how and when ever they may wish. Therefore, it is not in these matters that anyone should either seek to establish as law some indispensable form by which he might ensnare or harass consciences. Nor do we find any evidence for such an established rite, either in teh early fathers or in the primitive church, but only in the Roman church. But even if they had decreed anything in this matter as a law, we would not have to observe it, because these things neither can nor should be bound by laws. Further, even if different people make use of different rites, let no one judge or despise the other, but every man be fully persuaded in his own mind [Rom. 14:5]. Let us feel and think the same, even though we may act differently. And let us approve each other's rites lest schisms and sects should result from this diversity in rites - as has happened in the Roman church. For external rites, even though we cannot do without them - just as we cannot do without food or drink - do not commend us to God, even as food does not commend us to him [1 Cor. 8:8]."

-- An excerpt of Martin Luther's "An Order of Mass and Communion for the Church at Wittenberg" taken from Luther's Works: American Edition, vol. 53, Concordia Publishing House, 31.

On "Meat Sacrificed to Idols"

"Therefore, I have used neither authority nor pressure. Nor did I make any innovations. For I have been hesitant and fearful, partly because of the weak in faith, who cannot suddenly exchange an old and accustomed order of worship for a new and unusual one, and more so because of the fickle and fastidious spirits who rush in like unclean swine without faith or reason, and who delight only in novelty and tire of it as quickly, when it has worn off. Such people are a nuisance even in other affairs, but in spiritual matters, they are absolutely unbearable. Nonetheless, at the risk of bursting with anger, I must bear with them, unless I want to let the gospel itself be denied to the people."
-- An excerpt of Martin Luther's "An Order of Mass and Communion for the Church at Wittenberg" taken from Luther's Works: American Edition, vol. 53, Concordia Publishing House, 19.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. -- excerpt from 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." (John 20:21-23)

"To 'bind' means to hold someone accountable or to obligate, while to 'loose' means to free from obligation or to forgive. This ecclesial practice, as outlined in Matthew 18:15-22, is a communal pastoral process of reconciliation rather than the legalistic method of community discipline with which it is commonly associated. The intent is not to search out and chastise wrongdoers or to purify and thus protect the community's reputation."

"The authority to bind and to loose is given not to just any group but to a people empowered by the Holy Spirit to be an intentional community of shared standards, mutual trust, and redemptive discipline."
-- Darrell L. Guder, Missional Church

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21-22)

"[Reconciliation] is an antidote to the competitive, alienating individualism of North American culture. While central to the biblical understanding of the nature of salvation, reconciliation may be the most difficult practice for contemporary Christians even to consider, much less to actualize within their congregations."
-- Darrell L. Guder, Missional Church

Thursday, January 15, 2009

“What is the kingdom of God? Answer: Simply what we learned in the Creed, namely, that God sent his Son, Christ our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the power of the devil and to bring us to himself and rule us as a king of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience. To this end he also gave his Holy Spirit to teach us this through his holy Word and to enlighten and strengthen us in faith by his power.”
-- Large Catechism (Third Part: The Lord’s Prayer), The Book of Concord

Galatians 4:1-7
1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

"The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace."
-- Benediction, Lutheran Service Book, "Divine Service, Setting Two", p.183

With these words, I completed my worship demonstration for P-140 (Worship I). After Matt (my partner) and I completed our turn, there were two more pairs from our team that still had to preside over the liturgy, but the hard part was over.

In order to pass this class, one must satisfactorily pass this assignment; there is no "averaging out" poor conduct on the worship demonstration; if the seminary cannot "let us loose in a congregation", they will not pass us. (It makes sense, but it "adds a little somethin-somethin" to the whole experience.)

At the beginning of the class period, we rolled dice to figure out what order our pairs would go in. Then we rolled dice to figure out which half of the service each person would preside over. In other words, you have to come prepared to preside over either half. Our team has worked very hard for the last week to learn the liturgy; my teammates and I were very well prepared.

I owe my Christian brothers and sisters at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Reston, VA a very big "thank you" for the year in which they allowed me to serve them by assisting in the liturgy. Although I had never conducted a number of the portions of the service or presided over worship in general, the experience of leading portions of the worship at GSLC made preparing for this task much easier.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Augsburg Confession XXVIII: Concerning the Power of Bishops

The apostles directed that one should abstain from blood and from what is strangled. But who observes this now? Yet those who do not observe it commit no sin. For the apostles themselves did not want to burden consciences with such bondage, but prohibited such eating for a time to avoid offense. For in this ordinance one must pay attention to the chief part of Christian doctrine which is not abolished by this decree.

Hardly any of the ancient canons are observed according to the letter. Many of their rules fall daily into complete disuse, even among those who observe such ordinances most diligently. Consciences can neither be counseled nor helped unless we keep this moderation in mind: that such ordinances are not to be considered necessary, and even disregarding them does no harm to consciences.

Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord : The confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (100). Minneapolis: Fortress Press.