A weekly quick take on Luther’s Small Catechism. This week we turn to the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed, and confess who Jesus is — true God, true man, my Lord.
Author: Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
Rev. Jacob Ehrhard is pastor of St. John's Ev. Lutheran Church (Mayfair), Chicago, Illinois.
Article 1: God
The Lutheran faith is not an entirely new faith, but is a continuation of the ancient faith of the Christian Church. The beginning of the first Lutheran confession recalls the creedal faith that was articulated in the first several centuries of the New Testament. Many disagreements and false teachings concerning the nature of God and the person of Christ had arisen almost from the time of Pentecost. In the year 325 A.D., pastors and bishops from across the Christian Church assembled a council in the town of Nicaea to hash out what Christians really believe. The result was the Nicene Creed.
“Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term “person” they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself” (Augsburg Confession I.1-4).
Simply put, the God of the Christian Church is three distinct persons—Father, Son, Spirit—who share the same divine substance. Anything that denies this in whole or in part is contrary to the faith and cannot be called Christian. Some errors include considering Jesus or the Holy Spirit to be creatures or something less than fully God, or considering God to be one person who shows Himself in three different ways.
The Augsburg Confession grounds our confession of God in the Nicene Creed, but that does not mean that it’s a faith that was created by a bunch of men hanging out in Nicaea a few hundred years after Jesus suffered, died, rose, and ascended. The faith of Nicaea is grounded in Scripture, and thus the confession of the Lutheran Church is grounded in Scripture.
God’s nature is revealed very simply in the baptismal formula that Jesus gives in the last chapter of Matthew. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 ESV). Three distinct persons; one shared name. The ancient creeds, and the Augsburg Confession that follows, are nothing more than an unfolding of what this divine name means—this name that is baptism’s gift for you.
You can read the Book of Concord at http://www.bookofconcord.org
“Concord” is a weekly study of the Lutheran Confessions, where we will take up a topic from the Book of Concord and reflect on what we believe, teach, and confess in the Lutheran Church. The purpose of this series is to deepen readers’ knowledge and appreciation for the confessions of the Lutheran Church, and to unite them “with one heart” to confess the teachings of Holy Scripture.
Rev. Jacob Ehrhard serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO.
A weekly quick take on Luther’s Small Catechism. This week we close out the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed by considering our response to God’s good gifts to us.
A weekly quick take on Luther’s Small Catechism. This week we continue with the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, and ask why there is evil in the world if God is good and all-powerful.
About
“We at least leave with you a clear testimony, that we here in no wise are holding back from anything that could bring about Christian concord—such as could be effected with God and a good conscience” (Preface to the Augsburg Confession, paragraph 13).
The first distinctively Lutheran document of the Book of Concord is the Augsburg Confession (also known as the “Augustana”). It follows and is built upon the three Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian). This confession of faith expands on the basic doctrines taught in the creeds, and addresses some controversies that had arisen in the Church.
Introduction
The Augsburg Confession was written by theologians—Philip Melanchthon, with input from his colleague and friend, Martin Luther, among others. But the thing that makes the Augsburg Confession stand out is that it was presented and signed by princes and electors. It is the confession of the Lutheran layman.
It is called the Augsburg Confession because it was presented at a conference in the city of Augsburg in the year 1530. At that time, there was still anticipation that an open and honest conversation would bring about reformation and unity in the Church. The preface is written humbly and kindly and is full of hope, and the entire document seeks a peaceful harmony of teaching and faith.
What’s in It?
The content of the Augsburg Confession is clear and concise. The first 21 articles deal with various points of doctrine, while the final seven deal with various abuses in the medieval Roman Church. In the coming weeks, we’ll take up the topics of the Augsburg Confession in order to deepen our knowledge and appreciation for this foundational confession of the Lutheran Church.
You can read the Book of Concord at http://www.bookofconcord.org
“Concord” is a weekly study of the Lutheran Confessions, in which we will take up a topic from the Book of Concord and reflect on what we believe, teach, and confess in the Lutheran Church. The purpose of this series is to deepen readers’ knowledge and appreciation for the confessions of the Lutheran Church, and to unite them “with one heart” to confess the teachings of Holy Scripture.
Rev. Jacob Ehrhard serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO.
A weekly quick take on Luther’s Small Catechism. This week we take a look at God the Father’s creation and preservation, as taught in the Small Catechism.
Preface
“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 12:8-9 ESV). Man is by nature a spiritual beast. Unlike the other creatures, we contemplate right and wrong, good and bad. We think on spiritual questions. The problem is that our sinful, fallen, corrupted natures cannot by nature comprehend who God is or what He is like or what He wills for us. So we resort to doing what’s right in our own eyes, thinking what’s right in our own minds, and believing what’s right in our own hearts. It makes for as many religions as there are people.
How does anyone come to an agreement on what to believe? Put a bunch of people in a room and ask them agree about something. In business or other civil matters, people can sometimes come to an agreement—perhaps even a win/win solution. But drop a spiritual question and soon you’ll find that everyone has his own opinion and no one wants to budge even an inch. Agreement over spiritual questions, over matters of faith, can never be produced by human endeavor. Concord is not reached by debate or rhetoric or persuasive speech. It can only be received as a gift from God.
So agreement over spiritual matters must be primarily an agreement with what God says. This is what a confession is. To confess means to say the same thing as someone else. “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32 NKJV). “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10 ESV).
The confessions of the Lutheran Church are found in the Book of Concord. Concord means, “with one heart.” With one heart, the Lutheran Confessions say the same thing that God says and provide the basis for agreement concerning matters of faith. “We indeed (to repeat in conclusion what we have mentioned several times above) have wished, in this work of concord, in no way to devise what is new, or to depart from the truth of the heavenly doctrine which our ancestors, renowned for their piety, as well as we ourselves, have acknowledged and professed” (Preface to the Christian Book of Concord).
Concord begins with the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the sole source and norm of everything we believe and teach. And we confess with the ancient ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian); the Augsburg Confession and its Apology; the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope; the Small and Large Catechisms; and the Formula of Concord because they say the same thing that God says in Holy Scripture. This is our confession. This is our concord.
You can read the Book of Concord at http://www.bookofconcord.org
Rev. Jacob Ehrhard serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO.
A weekly quick take on Luther’s Small Catechism. This week we consider where the Apostles’ Creed comes from, and the two ways we can talk about “faith.”
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Is the Reformation Still Relevant?
Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
October 31, 2016 begins a year-long celebration leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. It was on this date in the year 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, protesting the Roman Catholic indulgence and the general system of works-righteousness devised by the medieval church.
But a lot has happened in 500 years. Is the Reformation still relevant today, beyond being an interesting historical footnote, or an opportunity to celebrate German culture? If the Reformation was simply a matter of history or culture, then its relevance would be limited to those interested in history or culture. But the Reformation is a matter of theology. It’s a matter of faith. And so it is as relevant today as it was 500 years ago.
The heart of the matter is expressed no better than in the fourth article of the Augsburg Confession, the foundational document of the teaching of the Lutheran Church. “Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight (Romans 3 and 4).”
The Reformation’s relevance is for all people. Every religion devised by man is a system of offering our strength, merits, or works to make ourselves right with God, the universe, and everything. If this was the case, then no one would be saved. Even the most righteous person according to his own work has a pile of failures and offenses that excludes him from being right with God.
But by faith, our works are excluded from consideration. The righteousness that counts before God is a different kind of righteousness—one that is given as a gift. It’s a righteousness that exceeds that of the best and the brightest and the most spiritual and religious person. It is Christ’s righteousness, given by God’s grace, and received in faith.
Not only is the Reformation as relevant today as it was in 1517, but it is as relevant as it has been since the day when a man from Nazareth named Jesus, also called the Christ, did the works that we cannot do and suffered the punishment of death that we should have suffered. He is the only Righteous One, and He offers His righteousness as a gift. And that’s relevant for you.
A weekly quick take on the Small Catechism. This week we close out the commandments with a summary of God’s threats and promises in the commandments, and what wins in the end.
