Category: Catechesis

Rev. Todd Wilken

The pastor is retired now, but at the time, he served one of the most influential congregations in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. I heard him say it with my own ears. I didn’t believe it then, and I still don’t. He was being interviewed on the radio. The interviewer asked him a question.

Q: Does God have some other way of salvation, other than Jesus?
A: God can do anything. So, he can save people anyway he wants. But Jesus is the only way we know of.

This idea is very popular now among Christians living in a world full of all kinds of beliefs and religions. It seems to make sense. There are so many different religions—maybe there is more than one way to be saved. Maybe there are a lot of ways.

Those who think this way will ask, “Who are we to say that God couldn’t have some other way of salvation, in addition to Jesus?” They say, “For us Christians, Jesus is the way of salvation; there could be other ways for other religions.” They caution, “We shouldn’t put limits on God. Maybe he has decided to save different people in different ways.”

These statements sound open-minded and tolerant. But these statements are horribly wrong. They all begin with the premise: God can do anything. That is wrong.

Christians do believe that God is omnipotent (Latin for “all-powerful”). But that does not mean that God can do anything. According to the Bible, there are several things God cannot do.

• He cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13).
• He cannot be tempted to evil, nor can he tempt man to sin (James 1:13).
• He cannot endure open iniquity (Isaiah 1:13).
• He cannot lie or break a promise (Psalm 89:33-35).
• He cannot fail (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Think about it. If God could deny Himself, how would we know He was telling the truth? If God could be tempted to evil, or tempt man to sin, how would we know He is good? If God could endure sin, how could we be saved? If God could lie or fail to keep a promise, how could we ever trust Him? If God could fail, could we have any hope?

In other words, if God could do any of these things, He would be more like the devil than the God we find in the Bible. He would be a terrible, awful, fearsome God.

A God who can do anything just might do anything. He might decide to destroy you for no reason. He might give you cancer just for fun. He might send you to hell, just because He can.

This is the kind of God lurking behind those seemingly tolerant and open-minded statements: A God who can—and might—do anything. This is not the God revealed in the Bible.

Thank God that He cannot do just anything. And, thank God that He cannot save people in any way He wants.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” And, that’s true. God could have spared Jesus. But that would mean condemning us. That would mean breaking all of His promises, going back on his word, and failing to save sinners.

This is what God cannot do. He has promised to save sinners, therefore He cannot spare Jesus. Jesus must die. There is no other way, even for the omnipotent God.

This means that Jesus isn’t just one possible way that God could have saved us. Jesus is the only way. This means that we can be certain that Jesus’ death on the Cross for us really does save us. God has kept all His promises, He has kept His word, He has not failed. Your sins really are paid for, in the only way they could have been paid for. Death has been conquered for you, in the only way death could have been conquered. Eternal life has been earned for you, in the only way eternal life could have been earned.

Now, think about this: There is comfort for sinners like us in what God cannot do.

• He cannot deny himself. He has saved the world through Jesus.
• He cannot be tempted to evil, nor can he tempt man to sin. His sinless Son Jesus was your substitute on the Cross.
• He cannot endure open iniquity. He punished all of our iniquity by putting Jesus to death on the Cross.
• He cannot lie or break a promise. He has kept all His promises in Jesus.
• He cannot fail. He has not failed. He has accomplished the salvation of the world through the crucified and risen Jesus.

And, now we can take real comfort knowing that God is all-powerful. We need not fear His power, but can trust that for God who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all (Romans 8:32), nothing is impossible. There is no sinner He cannot save, no sin He cannot forgive. Nothing is able to separate you from Him (Romans 8:35-39), not even death.

Does God have some other way of saving sinners, other than Jesus? 
No. There is no other way than the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Rev. Todd Wilken is host of the radio show, Issues, Etc. He is also the assistant pastor of Trinity Lutheran-Millstadt, Illinois and believes that he can hug every cat.

Stan Lemon

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Higher Things. This year’s conference at Purdue marks my twelfth Higher Things Conference. It’s insane to think its been that many, but in large part due to my work with the organization I’ve been privileged to attend a fair many of its conferences.

Over the last couple of years I’ve only been able to go to one conference, as opposed to all of them as in years past. It has easily become the high point of my year and I look forward to breaking away from my day job to get immersed in Lutheran Theology and Worship with a bunch of crazy teenagers for a whole week. There is nothing quite like it. Sure, there are other youth gatherings of various sort and they may be bigger, longer or louder but in the end there is nothing out there that truly represents historic Lutheranism like Higher Things does. For me that’s what has always been so special about this organization I love: Higher Things.

A lot of adults are busily trying to sell teenagers the next fad whether it be trendy with this generation or reminiscent on the baby boomer era. Some youth like that. I contend though that most don’t and most are looking for something deeper and more substantive in their religious life. Higher Things presents constants that are concrete, not fads or gimmicks of an exciting week that will quickly be lost once youth return home.

Here is the bottom line when it comes to Higher Things. The Gospel you hear on Tuesday at the opening Divine Service and at Friday for the closing Divine Service and all the services in between is the same Gospel you’ll hear Sunday at your home congregation’s Divine Service. The liturgy isn’t new and the hymns are mostly old. But anything you hear in worship at a Higher Things conference you can find in a pew near you tucked inside of your church’s hymnal on Sunday. The only thing different is you’re praying and singing with 1300+ youth in a music hall on a college campus.

There is something else that sets Higher Things apart. Look at our staff. They’re not old crusty church politicians running the show. Our conferences are powered by college volunteers and a support staff that is increasingly representative of past conference attendees. At Purdue our registrar, assistant registrar, college volunteer coordinator, housing staff and our technology staff were former college volunteers and past attendees. And as for our adults, many of them started with the organization only after having been serial adult chaperones for their home youth groups. Our leadership is home grown right in our conferences. They see what happens, they believe its valuable to our youth, and they jump on board for a crazy ride.

I strongly believe we’ve done our youth a disservice by treating them as children. They’re young adults and they’re not looking for dumbed down theology that lacks substance. They want to learn about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They not only want, but they need to hear the Gospel. They want to be treated like adults, and in this regard, Higher Things promises to do that and delivers. Our theology is that of the Lutheran Confessions and there is no sugar coating on it. Nothing but raw unadulterated Gospel. And the best part is that the youth love it!

We live in a world that is hostile to Christianity. Youth are taught to not believe in anything. They are taught to live with doubt and to fend for their own sins rather than lay them at the foot of the Cross for He who bears the sins of the world. Higher Things is intentionally counter cultural to this, it teaches the solid promises of faith in Water, Word, Body and Blood. It teaches forgiveness from a loving Lord who sent His only Son to die for a fallen world. It teaches certainty and trust in Christ. Then it worships faithfully in Lutheran fashion according to the practices passed down by the church. All the while teaching and worshipping, Higher Things makes sure to have fun, proving that being faithful doesn’t have to be boring. This is why I am addicted to Higher Things.

Stan Lemon is the Technology Executive for Higher Things.

Jonathan Kohlmeier

It’s not supposed to work like this! High School aged youth don’t get excited about prayer offices and services that were written or compiled 2000 years ago. They get bored with in-depth bible studies that just go through scripture. They need edgy video and skits that can concretely be applied to their lives and that old boring stuff just doesn’t do it.

Yet here they are! 1400 youth belting out great Lutheran hymns. They’re in the classrooms asking tough questions about the text of scripture and Lutheran doctrine. They’re asking their pastors about baptism and private Confession and Absolution! It’s completely insane to the world who thinks teens just need and want to be entertained. Yet here we are, in Purdue, witnessing all of it and more!

I guess this shouldn’t really be a surprise to us. These Lutheran Youth are at the top of their game academically. During the school year they are learning calculus that even if we did learn it has been mostly forgotten now. They are encouraged to think critically by teachers in class and through homework and exams. They’re smart. Intelligent. Thirsting for knowledge. It shows just by talking with them!

The experience of a Higher Things Conference is something all in and of itself. The singing, the learning, the fellowship all leads to great emotion. But it doesn’t stop there. This experience is reproducible. That’s because it’s not about the experience or the emotion but about the unchanging Gospel and the gifts which deliver it. The same gifts given at a conference are given week in and week out in our congregations. Sunday morning our pastors start with the words, “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” reminding us of our baptism. We confess our sins and we are absolved. We hear the word of God read and preached and Jesus comes to us through it. Christ comes to us in body and blood in the sacrament. That victory over sin, death, and the devil that was won for us at Calvary is delivered to us in, with, and under the bread and the wine.

There are probably more people here at From Above – Purdue then you have in your own congregations. Instead of hearing 1 or 2 pastors preach you’ll hear 7 different pastors preach Jesus for you. The singing will be a little louder. You’ll see that there are more Lutheran youth than just you and your youth group. It’s definitely an experience you’ll remember for a little while.

Then you’ll get home. The excitement will wear off and the emotions will die down. But those same things that you heard and learned here will continue on in your own congregations. Your own pastor will continue preach Jesus Christ and Him Crucified for you. He will continue deliver Jesus to you week in and week out. You’ll be joined with the whole church as you sing, pray, and receive the gifts of The Lord.

That’s a gift from above and it’s pretty great!

by Rev. Mark Buetow

The purpose of a vaccine is to inoculate you against a disease. By putting some of the disease into your body (usually an “inert” version of the illness) your body reacts and builds antibodies against that disease. Then later on, when you are exposed to that particular germ, your body is ready with its defenses to fight off the disease. Baptism is just such an inoculation against death. When you are baptized—born “from above”—you are given the death and resurrection of Jesus as your own. That means the death He died for your sins you have died: at the font! And the life He lives, you now live, having risen to that new life through the waters of Baptism. And since you have His death and resurrection in Baptism, that means that when you die, death cannot keep you down; you will be raised up and live forever. You’re inoculated against death!

Science and medicine continue to overcome illness and disease. Many sicknesses that would have surely caused death just decades ago are treatable or perhaps even curable. But the one thing we have found no physical pill for or vaccine against is death. You can cure a disease and treat some symptoms, but in the end, death will have its way. We might be able to use biology and chemistry to extend our lives, but we can’t keep death away forever. Plus, any kind of tragedy could strike at any time, ending someone’s life. We don’t like to talk about that. Everyone hopes they’ll live a nice long life and die peacefully of old age in their sleep. But we know better. We’ve seen family and friends fall asleep in death. We’ve seen it happen to young and old. We’ve watched loved ones waste away with something that cannot be cured. We’ve known someone whose life was cut short by tragedy or accident. No, there is nothing in this world that can defeat death.

So the Enemy of death comes “from above” into this world: the Son of God in the flesh—Jesus, whose name means “Yahweh saves.” Saves us from what? Saves us from our sins, the wages of which is death. Sin brings death, so Jesus takes on both. He takes on sin by suffering and dying for the sins of the world on the cross. He takes on death by taking a last breath and being laid in a tomb before coming out the third day and triumphing over death. When Jesus comes out of that tomb on Easter, something is different. Death no longer has the last word. It is the final enemy to be defeated, and on the Last Day when our bodies rise from the dead, then death will be done away with once and for all (1 Corinthians 15)—all because Jesus came out of that tomb after He paid for the sins of the world with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.

Now, how do the death and resurrection of Jesus benefit you? How do you receive the blessings of what Jesus has done for you by His death and resurrection? That’s where Baptism comes in. The Large Catechism gives us this great picture of what Baptism does: Imagine there was a doctor somewhere who understood the art of saving people from death, or even though they died, could restore them quickly to life so that they would afterward live forever. Oh, how the world would pour in money like snow and rain. No one could find access to him because of the throng of the rich! But here in Baptism there is freely brought to everyone’s door such a treasure and medicine that it utterly destroys death and preserves all people alive. (Large Catechism IV.43)

The way that Baptism does this is described by St. Paul in Romans 6: Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4, NKJV). Baptism is the water to which the Lord attaches His Word of promise: Christ died; you die. Christ rose; you will rise. The power of Holy Baptism is that it joins us to Christ’s own death and resurrection. You have died at the holy font to inoculate you against your physical death some day. You have been raised to new life at the font so that you will rise from the dead on the Last Day and live forever.

This means that for those who are baptized into Christ, death is no big deal. That’s right! No big deal. It might be sudden or lingering. It might be painful or peaceful. It will cause tears and grief. But know this: Even though you die, you will rise. The promise of Holy Baptism is that not only does your Old Adam die daily but the New man arises to live in righteousness, innocence and blessedness. This means that when you are confronted by death, you can mock it, scoff at it, shrug it off as no big deal. That’s because just as much as Baptism prepares you for death, it also promises eternal life. Yes, you’ll die. Then you’ll rise and live forever, because Jesus did. What He did is made yours by water, Word and Spirit from above.

So we live in a world surrounded by death, but we are vaccinated against it. We die and rise from above, in Christ, through the water and His Word. Therefore, we boldly confess, while sneering at death, that we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, Illinois and serves as the deputy and media services executive for Higher Things. He can be reached at buetowmt@gmail.com.

by Rev. George F. Borghardt

Anothen. Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless someone is born Anothen, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Anothen is the Greek word for “from above.”

“You can’t exactly go back into your mom’s womb and be born again!” Nicodemus gets that part right. Mom’s womb is exit only. That’s crazy talk! To be born anothen is to be born of water and the Spirit with the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” These aren’t just any old words—they are life-giving Spirit words, water words, baptismal words! These are 
His words, which bring us from death to life eternal.

Flesh gives birth to flesh. We work, we hold up our deeds before God, we sin, the Law condemns us, we die. And so on and so on and so on. But the Spirit gives birth to the Spirit. Life-giving, water-filled words raise us from the dead as certainly as Jesus has been raised from the dead. New life, new salvation, new existence—not from our own straining for it within us, but from above.

We don’t choose to be conceived or knock gently on mom’s belly when we decide to be born. And we certainly don’t give birth to ourselves. That’s just more crazy talk! We weren’t born like that the first time. We aren’t born like that for the “anothen” time either.

We are born “from above.” Passive! The Lord does all the work by the water and the Spirit. Eternal life isn’t earned or deserved—He washes it upon us. We are bathed in it. We are cleaned by it. We are baptized into eternal life in Christ.

For Christ is our eternal life. He’s heaven for us. He’s the kingdom of God among us. He took upon Himself our sins and He suffered and died for them.

Christ’s holy life and terrible sufferings and death save us—His life lived for us and His death for our death. His resurrection drips on us from above at the baptismal font. We died in Him. We rose in Him. We live in Him.

But what about faith? Don’t we have to believe for the anothen to work for us? Faith flows from the water and the Spirit and is created from above within us. We are baptized into the faith. We are in the faith in the waters of our baptism like we are in the water when we jump into a pool. Water is around us. It’s in us. Faith’s the same way!

Faith receives Christ who lived perfectly for you. It lays hold of Christ who died for your sins. Faith clings to that forgiveness for our sins and it believes this Word of Gospel in the water.

Faith is alive and active, working within us for others. It doesn’t live for itself but for others. We don’t live for ourselves anymore, but for others. That Spirit-filled water from our baptism seeps into all areas of our lives! We haven’t been born from above to keep on living the way we lived before or to be the walking dead. We were born anew to a faith-filled life, certain that the death and resurrection of Christ answers for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

You are not going to be alive anothen just some day in the future. You are raised anothen from the dead right now. You see the kingdom of God now by faith and you will enter it for certain on the Last Day.

You are alive this very moment to serve others. By faith you have been set loose to put their needs first—their wills before your will; their ways before your way. Why not? You’ve already died and been raised from the dead! You are born from above to live each moment of each day in service to those around you.

Will you fail? Will you mess up? Will you sin? Will you live like you haven’t been born from above? Duh. Of course you will—daily and much. Living from above isn’t living perfectly. It’s admitting to God when you haven’t lived as you should, and receiving His forgiveness. That’s by faith, too.  You were born anothen into His life. You live anothen. You care for others anothen. You serve others anothen. When you sin, you receive forgiveness from Jesus anothen. When you fall asleep and you can’t do any more in this life, you will die anothen.

On that day, on the Last Day, He’ll raise you up anothen, too, and you’ll see just how much you were born to live from above by the water and the Spirit. You will see all the forgiveness and life that came to you from above in the waters of Holy Baptism. And you will live anothen with Him forever and ever.

Anothen. Anothen is “from above.” We are born from above. We live from above. “For whoever is born anothen shall see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Rev. George F. Borghardt is the president of Higher Things and serves as the senior pastor at Zion Ev. Lutheran Church in McHenry, Illinois.

By Rev. William M. Cwirla

Life is ordered. Life is ordered because God is a God of order. Everything and everyone has a place. The Table of Duties in the Small Catechism deals with the three “holy orders,” the orderings into which God places us where we serve our neighbor in vocation: church, society, and home. These orderings are all covered by the 4th Commandment’s “parents and other authorities.”

The church is ordered. It’s not just a mob of believers. The church is ordered into those who preach and those who hear, pastors and people. Preachers without hearers are wasting their breath. Hearers without preachers have nothing to hear. Preachers and hearers each have their duties and responsibilities to one another.

Pastors have a duty to be “above reproach” (1 Timothy 3:2-4). That doesn’t mean”perfect” or sinless. Only Christ is sinless, and we are sinless only in Christ. It means having a good reputation. The pastor’s house tends to be made of glass. Everyone watches what the pastor and his family, including his kids, are doing. And so it makes good common sense that a pastor should have his life and household in order—be faithful to his wife, a good father to his children, and not a drunkard or brawler or someone who is greedy.

A pastor also needs to be able to teach, judge doctrine and protect his people from false theology (Titus 1:9). That means training, study, and practice. Your pastor probably has a similar education and training to your doctor. Bad doctoring can only mess with your temporal life. The worst it can do is kill you. Bad pastoring can mess up your eternal life. That’s why pastors need to know the Word of God and how to apply it rightly as Law and Gospel. This is also why the church isn’t quick to ordain new converts (1 Timothy 3:6). The right application of Law and Gospel is taught by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience, according to C. F. W. Walther, the first president of the Missouri Synod. That is profoundly true.

One mistake that many people make is to think that pastors are held to a higher standard than ordinary Christians. That’s not really true. Pastors are simply called to reflect how every Christian ought to live. This is especially true in view of the fact that we all are justified sinners, at the same time sinner and saint. Pastors do best when they model a real life of repentance as justified sinners rather than pretending to be flawless plaster saints.

At the same time, every pastor realizes that he holds an office that does not belong to him but to the Lord. He is reminded of that every time he absolves “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ.” He is a man “under orders.” Just as we expect the president of our country or the governor of our state to behave in a way that dignifies their office and honors our country, so we expect pastors to conduct their lives in a way that brings honor to Jesus Christ and His Church.

What about the hearers—the members of the congregation? What do they owe their pastors? First of all, hearers owe their pastors a living (1 Corinthians 9:14). Somehow we’ve gotten the crazy idea that it isn’t “spiritual” or “sincere” if we get paid to do something. Nonsense! “The worker deserves his wages.” Even the ox that treads the grain gets to snack on it (1 Timothy 5:17-18)! So don’t muzzle that ox of a preacher the Lord sent you. And make sure he can feed his family!

Besides providing a fair living, hearers have a duty to respect and honor their pastors because of the office. Respect is not earned. It comes with the office. Pastors represent Christ before the congregation and speak the words of Christ into your ears. “He who hears you, hears me,” Jesus said of those He had sent (Luke 10:16). For this reason alone, pastors ought to be respected. When we disrespect those who hold an office, whether in church or state or home, we dishonor God whose authority upholds the office they hold.

Obedience is part of respect and honor. “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority” (Hebrews 13:17). That’s talking about pastors, not government leaders. Pastors must give an account to the Lord of the church for their care and oversight. That’s why pastors can be grumpy at times. Or they seem to say “no” all the time. It’s not that they want to take away all the fun, but they have a deeper concern than your happiness—your salvation. Your doctor may not always make you happy, but he has your health in mind. Your pastor may not always make you happy and tell you what you want to hear, but he has your eternal salvation in mind.

This doesn’t mean we must blindly obey pastors in everything they say, and pastors do say a lot. Certainly when they are proclaiming God’s Word, we must hear and obey it. And when they contradict God’s Word, they need to be called on it. Respectfully. But it’s good to yield to the pastor’s opinion sometimes, simply for the sake of peace and order. He is an “overseer:” one who watches over things, looks at the big picture, and sees not only the trees but the forest. Each of us tends to look at things through our own individual experiences and needs. The pastor sees things in a bigger and broader context—congregation, synod, the whole Christian church. Cut him a little slack and make his work a joy instead of a burden. It will go better for everyone.

The best way for pastors and people to keep all this straight is to keep Jesus in the middle of it all. It’s His church and it’s His ministry. And we, as Christ’s baptized believers, are on the receiving end of His gifts.

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California, and is currently President of Higher Things but will serve as a director on the board as of May 1. He can be reached at wcwirla@gmail.com.

By Dr. C. Matthew Phillips

May I hear your confession? That may seem like an odd question. Most people who hear it would associate it with confessing sin to a pastor. However, Christ also calls believers to confess their faith to one another and the world (Matthew 10:32). St. Paul wrote that those who believe in Christ’s Word will also confess Him (Romans 10:8-11). Additionally, Lutherans learn the Apostles’ Creed as a confession of faith in their confirmation classes.

While a confession of faith may take place spontaneously in response to hearing God’s Word, Christians have often made formal confessions of their faith, such as a public recitation of the Nicene Creed during the divine service. It is often during times of persecution or the growth of false teachings that the church has found it necessary to formulate its creeds and confessions. Therefore, it’s easy to see how during the Reformation, formal, written confessions of the faith became necessary again.

In the sixteenth century, Lutherans wrote significant public confessions of their faith. The most famous one is the Augsburg Confession. When the Reformation took place in the 1520s, it divided the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation politically. This empire consisted of principalities and free imperial cities in central Europe. Martin Luther lived in Wittenberg, which was part of a principality known as Electoral Saxony, a territory that is in eastern Germany today.

Emperor Charles V gave Luther the opportunity to confess or deny his own teaching in 1521 at an imperial assembly known as the Diet of Worms. Here Luther defended his teaching as supported by God’s Word and refused to recant his previous writings critical of the papacy. You may recall that this is where his most well-known words were proclaimed, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” Luther made this bold confession of his faith before powerful secular and church leaders. As a result of this action, Charles condemned Luther as a heretical outlaw and commanded all German princes to reject Luther and his teachings. However, Luther’s prince, Frederick the Wise, protected Luther and Electoral Saxony began the process of church reform. This profound theological reform led to social and political transformation. For example, when most priests and former monks and nuns began to marry, monasticism ceased to be a significant institution. City councils and localities enacted reforms related to social welfare and education that more closely reflected Lutheran doctrine and practice. Additionally, Luther and others reformed the late medieval liturgy to bring the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake back to the center of Christian worship.

Wars against France and the Ottoman Turks forced Charles to delay any attempt to prosecute Luther and his political supporters throughout the 1520s. With Europe on the verge of invasion, Charles needed political allies more than condemned “heretics.” By 1526, Philip of Hesse and Albrecht, duke of Prussia, and some imperial cities had adopted and begun to implement the Lutheran Reformation. These leaders joined John the Steadfast of Saxony in a makeshift coalition of Lutheran rulers. John had become the Elector of Saxony after Frederick’s death in 1525. This Lutheran coalition staunchly resisted the Emperor’s plans to enforce his decree regarding Martin Luther at two imperial assemblies at Speyer in the late 1520s. By 1529, Charles and his brother, Ferdinand of Austria, had become increasingly frustrated with the religious and political divisions between Roman Catholic and Lutheran princes and cities in the empire. Therefore, Charles commanded the Lutheran princes and cities to present an explanation of their faith and practices to him at a new imperial assembly.

And so, John the Steadfast sought a theological statement from the Wittenberg theologians. In response to Elector John’s request, Dr. Luther and his colleagues wrote the Torgau Articles in March 1530. The Lutheran princes and theologians attended the imperial assembly at Augsburg in the spring and summer of 1530. Since Luther was an outlaw, he remained at Coburg Castle near the southern border of Electoral Saxony. This is where we see Philip Melanchthon lead the Lutheran theologians and become the primary author of the Augsburg Confession. He wrote and re-worked portions of the document until its official presentation to Charles on June 25, 1530. The original signers of this document included John the Steadfast and his son John Frederick (later called “the Magnanimous”), Philip of Hesse, George, margrave of Brandenburg, Duke Francis of Lüneburg, Wolfgang of Anhalt, and the leaders of Nuremberg and Reutlingen. These princes and civic magistrates risked their wealth, power, and very lives by signing this document. This Augsburg Confession contained 28 articles or statements concerning subjects related to the Christian faith. These included short explanations of the Lutheran teaching on the Triune God, original sin, Jesus Christ, justification by faith, pastors, sanctification, the church, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the absolution of sins, and the return of Christ. The Augsburg Confession soon became the basic foundation that defined what Lutherans believed, taught and confessed: the Good News that we are justified freely for Christ’s sake through faith alone, proclaimed loudly and clearly for all to hear. I cannot encourage you strongly enough to ask your pastor, if he hasn’t already, to conduct a study of the biblical foundation for the most significant articles of the Augsburg Confession. The more you know it, the more you can clearly communicate your Christ-focused confession to one another and the world.

Dr. C. Matthew Phillips is Associate Professor of History at Concordia University, Nebraska. He teaches various courses related to world and European history. His research has focused on medieval monasticism and the Crusades. Additionally, he has scholarly interests in the Reformation and the writings and life of Martin Luther. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Higher Things. His blog is entitled, Historia et Memoria, and can be found at http://wp.cune.edu/matthewphillips/.

By Rev. Mark Buetow

Have you ever heard someone say, “He’s all about himself?” or “She only think about herself?” “Looking out for Number One.” These are all just sayings that reflect the original sin and corruption we inherited from Adam. One of the phrases used to describe this state of being turned inward, focusing on ourselves, and putting ourselves above others is the Latin phrase incurvatus in se (in-coor-VAHT-oos in say). It means, literally, “curved inward on himself or herself.” It’s a shorthand way of describing what original sin does to us. It makes us turn inward—away from loving God and our neighbor.

Now that sounds like a pretty good description of sinners. We love ourselves. We put ourselves first. But this doesn’t magically go away when we hear the Gospel and are made Christians. In fact, the Old Adam thinks he can play the religion game. And suddenly, our religion goes all incurvatus in se! Our faith and piety get all all inwardly turned. Our Old Adam loves to make religion about himself. Look how we pray! Look what we do for God! Look how much I love Jesus! See how good Jesus makes me feel! And so faith becomes something that gets twisted and aimed at ourselves, and we make our “being Christian” all about us.

This is where we are rescued by Jesus in a way that is described by another little bit of Latin: extra nos (EX-tra nohs), which means “outside ourselves.” The Gospel, the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake, is outside of us. It doesn’t depend on us. It’s there and it’s true, whether we believe it or not, whether we can feel it or not, or whether we like it or not. Extra nos means that Jesus is the Son of God, no matter who you think you are. It means He died for you, no matter how good or bad you consider yourself to be. It means He rose for you, whether you are afraid of death or not. It means baptism, absolution, His Word and the Supper of His body and blood bestow forgiveness upon you whether you really feel like they do or not.

Extra nos means that your salvation and standing before God are never dependent on how much faith you have. They aren’t determined by how many sins you’ve committed. It’s not based on whether you feel happy or sad. It isn’t about if it makes you feel good or not. It’s not attached to your attitude or even how much sleep you got. The extra nos of Jesus and His gifts means that you can rely on them even when you don’t feel like relying on them! There is a great example of what this all looks like in the Garden of Eden. Consider Eve. The serpent shows up to deceive her into thinking God is lying. Eve has the Word of God extra nos: “If you eat of it, you shall die.” That command/promise of God doesn’t change whether she eats it or not. That Word is sure and certain. But Eve and then Adam chooses the incurvatus in se path. They look to themselves. What does Eve think? The fruit looks good; it’s good food and it will make her wise. Those are deductions that Eve makes based on her own heart and emotions and reason, and not based on God’s Word.

The same thing happens with sin. We choose to do something only because it makes us feel good (because we’re turned inward, thinking only of ourselves) and not because of the clear Word of God extra nos that something is right or wrong. But it happens in our piety, too. We think some way of worshiping or being religious that makes us feel good (because we’re turned inward, thinking only of ourselves) is better than something that doesn’t seem to get us excited or out of which we don’t “get something.”

The answer to both is the extra nos Gospel. By the Word outside of us (in water, Word, body and blood), the Spirit works in us to turn us to Christ in repentance and faith and turn us toward our neighbor in love and service—like a spring, only an external force can unravel it. Let it go, and it snaps back into its coiled self. In the same way, the Word acts on us outside of ourselves, to crucify the Old curved-inward Adam and to bring forth that New Man upon whom is bestowed forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

Now when someone says about you, “You’re only into yourself,” you can reply, “Well of course, because I’m incurvatus in se.” Then you say, “But extra nos, Christ counts me as His own. A sinner forgiven. And the Spirit is at work to keep turning me away from me and toward God and my neighbor.” Or if someone says, “You’ve got to feel like you’re changing and loving Jesus,” you can reply, “Well of course we think that. We’re incurvatus in se. But outside me is something that isn’t so fickle and changing and unstable. Outside of me is Christ and His baptism, Word, absolution and Supper. And those things don’t change. The promise they declare to me, that my sins are forgiven and I am the Lord’s, doesn’t change either.” When you say that, then it’s about Jesus and not about you. Besides, who doesn’t like to throw a little Latin into their conversation every once in awhile? Incurvatus in se means me and my love of me. And extra nos is about Jesus and His love for me. And without a doubt, it’s the extra nos that wins every time.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, Illinois and serves as Media Services Executive for Higher Things. He can be reached at buetowmt@gmail.com.

One of our Lutheran distinctives is the desire to work out that delicate balance we call Christian liberty. This is just what Rev. Borghardt successfully communicates in his capable handling of the some of the principles from Martin Luther’s work, On Christian Liberty. This article is from the Spring 2013 issue of Higher Things magazine. You can find more awesome articles like this one here.

By Rev. George F. Borghardt

“A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.1”

You don’t have to do the Law. You don’t.

You don’t have to obey the Ten Commandments.

You aren’t even subject to them. There’s no test afterwards. There is no time when God will catch you on the last day and say, “Tsk-tsk, you missed one.”

Christ has fulfilled the Law for you. He took all the tests that God requires of you on your behalf. He turned in His assignment from God with your name on it. What God requires of you, Jesus did for you. What God wants you to do, the way God wants you to live, Jesus did in your place. Each step, each move He made. It was as if He said, “I’m doing this—not for me, but for you.”

Check the Commandments. Read them. Mark them. Take them to heart. You’ll see for yourself what your Savior has done for you.

In fact, looking at the Commandments, you’ll see what you’ve done in Christ. You did all of them in Christ—every last one of them! You didn’t miss even one in Jesus. There’s not a single commandment left for you to do.

It’s like someone did your homework and took your tests, and you got the perfect grades. It’s like God has given you a snow day from the Law!

No, it’s not “like” God has done these things, He actually has done them all for you in the Cross of Christ. There is no Law waiting around the next corner—no extra work hiding just out of sight. Jesus did it all. Every last commandment. Every last precept that God could come up with for you to do.

Faith receives Jesus. Faith has everything because faith lays hold of Christ’s holy life and His sufferings and death. Faith hopes, loves, believes in nothing other than Christ’s cross alone.

The Law has been perfectly done by Jesus’ holy life. That leaves you perfectly free. Completely free. Totally free! Christ is the end of the Law for those who have faith in Him.

“There must be something for me to do.” “It can’t be that easy.” “If that were true then anyone could be saved.” These are those pesky objections we often hear or toss out there ourselves. Yes, yes, anyone could be saved. But many are not saved because they reject this very faith by trying to put themselves into the equation and do something for God.

God is pleased in Christ’s work alone, not your work. In fact, God doesn’t need you to do the Law. The Law can’t make you better in God’s eyes. In Baptism you have already been covered in Jesus before God.

Now, there are some around you who could use you being so free as to be free for them. They could use you taking up the commandments, not to save yourself but for their sakes. They could use some love. They could use a break. They could use you serving them with some of Jesus’ cross-won forgiveness.

Mom and Dad really need you to honor them. Your teachers and pastor could really use some respect, too. Your friends and neighbors need you to love them and give your life for them. Your girlfriend or boyfriend needs you to be chaste and decent. The people around you need you to respect their stuff and not take it from them. Your friends (and enemies) need you to defend them and speak well of them. And coveting? Nobody wants you wanting to have their stuff!

Christ loved others. He put them first. He loved them more than He loved Himself. He loved you more than He loved Himself. He loved those around you, too. He gave up His life for all. He is Lord of all, and He served everyone. You are completely free, and you serve others…in Him. By faith in Christ, you have all that you need before God. You don’t need more works for God. You couldn’t get more works, even if you tried. How could you? You have Jesus’ works!

Jesus has more works than you could ever do! He has works that He’s going to do through you for your neighbor.

1 Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 31: Luther’s works, vol. 31: Career of the Reformer I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.) (344). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Rev. George F. Borghardt is currently the Conference and Deputy Executive for Higher Things but will begin his first term as President of the Board of Directors on May 1. He also serves as Senior Pastor at Zion Ev. Lutheran Church in McHenry, Illinois.

Blessed Easter! Easter is everything! The resurrection of Jesus is the center of the Christian faith. Check out Pastor Fisk’s article on ways we know the resurrection really happened and that the tomb was actually empty. It will help you as you confess the resurrection to those around you.

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2012 Free Apologetics Issue of Higher Things Magazine.

Rev. Jonathan Fisk

It’s kind of an important question. I mean, if the resurrection didn’t happen, what on earth are we Christians doing? It’s not like it’s gaining us any power or money or anything. But if the resurrection did happen, then why is it that so many people in the world don’t believe it?

The resurrection did happen, and I can tell you how you can be certain of it. More than that, I can do it without telling you that you have to believe it just because the Bible says so. That’s the key thing. A lot of non-Christians in our world think that Christians are just a bunch of willfully ignorant nincompoops who believe in some book that fell out of the sky. But nothing could be further from the truth. Christians are Christians because something happened in history unlike any other thing ever: A guy named Jesus was murdered, but refused to stay dead. It’s not a leap of faith. It’s an historic fact that is as easy to prove as any other bit of history, if you aren’t too close-minded to consider the evidence.

1. Jesus was a real human. Even without the Bible, modern scholars have to admit that there was a Jewish man named Jesus who lived in the first century. Non-biblical writings like Flavius Josephus, Mara Bar-Serapion and the Jewish Talmud all mention Him as a real, historical figure.
2. The real human Jesus died by crucifixion and was buried. In the same way, some of these extra-biblical texts mention that Jesus was killed. They don’t go into detail, but only an ignorant person who gets all their information from internet forums will try to tell you that the real Jesus didn’t die, and wasn’t even buried.
3. This Jesus had real followers who took his death very hard. At this point, we have to start trusting the books of the Bible as eyewitness accounts. We don’t have to believe they are true. We just have to trust that they tell us what the people who wrote them actually thought. That’s what we do with every historical document about any piece of history, at least, until we find other history that tells us something different. So the guy who wrote John’s Gospel around 90 AD also claims he followed this real guy Jesus, and believed He was the Savior of the world before He was murdered, watched Him die, and then fell into despair.
4. Jesus’ tomb was found empty three days later. Next, the followers of Jesus who despaired after His death also tell us that they stopped despairing because He appeared to them as risen. But not just to them. Extra-biblical sources from Roman historians tell us that after Jesus was killed, “a most mischievous superstition…again broke out.” Yet another document, traced to Jewish sources, tells of a gardener named Juda who stole Jesus’ body. When you put all of these pieces of history together, and combine it with the fact that Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection all started within walking distance of His tomb, there is only one reasonable historical answer: Somehow, some way, that tomb was empty.
5. The disciples stopped despairing and started preaching, even though it meant their own deaths. Both biblical and extra-biblical documents tell us that Christianity came from the meeting together of these followers, in order to worship their leader “Christ” and listen to his teachings. Rather than give this up, the same disciples who once fled, willingly faced gruesome and painful deaths.
6. Antagonists convert. James, Jesus’ brother by blood, and Saul, a man who made a business of killing Christians, were among these converts. More so, Saul’s own writings claim his reason for conversion was a face-to-face meeting with the risen Jesus.
7. This is the event upon which Christianity is founded. Christianity is not direct proof that Jesus rose, but it is proof that people who knew Jesus personally before His death believed that He rose.
8. Christianity was founded in Jerusalem. No one in the town where all this was happening could present the dead body so as to put a stop to it. Instead, the “stolen body theory” is preached even 
by the first skeptics.
9. They worshiped on Sunday. These new Christians, a bunch of Jews (whose religion insists they worship on Saturday) start worshiping on Sunday, because Sunday is the day when they 
believe the resurrection happened.
10. Do the math. The challenge for the non-Christian or the skeptic (which they are usually unwilling to take up) is to find an alternative historical explanation for where this Christianity came from which also fits all of these simple, documented facts. What could make orthodox Jews change their most sacred rituals, and go to the ends of the earth to tell others about it even though it only gets them killed? They say it was because they themselves saw this man risen from the dead. On top of this, the tomb was clearly empty and the man was nowhere to be found. So, what other explanation for all the facts can you come up with?

Over the last several hundred years the skeptics have tried. There’s the hallucination theory, and the swoon theory and that good ol’ stolen body theory. But none of those theories explain all of the above facts. You can’t steal a swooned body that gets up and walks away. Separate groups of people don’t experience the same hallucination. A Jesus who needed to be taken to the hospital would hardly have convinced terrified disciples to go out and die for him.

The simple reality is that there is only one explanation of the evidence that fits all the facts. It might be unbelievable, but it is anything but unreasonable. So put it in your pocket for the next time a skeptic attacks you with his claims that you are ignorant. Ask him how he explains what Tacitus says. Ask him why the Talmud called Jesus a sorcerer. Ask him to explain all the historical facts. Then, when he won’t (since he can’t), feel free to go right on believing the truth: that the resurrection did happen. Not only is it the best explanation for all of the real historical evidence, it also happens to be what the Bible says was God’s plan for the precise purpose of saving you.

Pastor Jonathan Fisk serves as pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is also on the board of Higher Things and host of the popular Worldview Everlasting videos. He can be reached at revfisk@gmail.com.