Category: Articles

Rev. Mark Buetow

When Lutherans say “Solus Christus (Christ alone)” or sometimes “Solo Christo (by Christ alone)” we mean exactly that. Jesus and nothing else. Nothing else added to our salvation. Nothing else added to our standing before God. Nothing else in our good works and daily lives. Just Christ. Only Christ. Christ alone.

To confess “Christ alone” is to say that it is Jesus only who saves us. We don’t mean, of course, that the Father didn’t send the Son or that the Spirit doesn’t “call, gather, enlighten, sanctify us” by His gifts in the church. When we say “Christ alone” we just mean all Jesus and none of US.

This is true of our salvation. We are born dead in our trespasses and sins. Christ alone can speak life into us, like He did to Lazarus. We could never be good enough to make up for our sins. Christ alone lives perfectly and keeps every commandment and law for us. We could never answer for our sins other than to be damned forever. But Christ all by Himself answered for our sins and the sins of the whole world by being saddled with the sin of the world, forsaken by the Father and damned alone on Calvary. So much so that He could cry out, “It is finished!” Jesus Christ alone did it. All by Himself. There’s nothing left to be done. Your sins are wiped out. And while many people were raised from the dead in the Bible, it was Christ alone who came to life without any help. He rose and left death behind. Only Jesus can do that!

Christ doing all this alone, without any help, because He is God and man, matters for our salvation. You see, when it comes to being square with God, we like to think that if we contribute even just a little bit, we’ll be OK. If we just have enough faith. Or try to balance our bad with some good. Or change our lives. Or give up our sins. Or do something, anything, however small and religiousy. If we just add SOMETHING, then that will count. “Christ alone” rescues us from that false and despair-inducing belief. It means we rest confidently in the fact that Jesus has done all the saving that we need done and ours is just to enjoy being the savee, as it were.

Now, the real kicker is when preachers tell you, “Of course it’s all Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. But now that you are saved, Jesus expects this or that sort of behavior to show that you love Him and are still saved.” In other words, you get SAVED by Christ alone but you LIVE by Jesus’ grace and some good intentions and effort! The Lutheran cry of “Christ alone!” answers that sort of thinking too! In his epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul writes, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2-3). He makes it clear that we don’t start with Jesus and keep going under our own steam!

When it comes to “Christian living” and “doing good works” and “living the sanctified life” and “bearing the fruits of faith,” Lutherans also cry out “Christ alone.” After all, the Word of God likewise ascribes all of our good works and sanctified (holy) living to Christ living in us. This is hammered home in such passages as “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

And that, really, is what “Christ alone” means. It means we boast in the Lord and not ourselves. That wicked Old Adam wants nothing else than to take credit for even the smallest improvements we seem to make. It’s not enough he hates God and wants to do his own thing. Our Old Adam knows how to play the game, get some religion and make it all about himself. So we cry out, “Christ alone!” We won’t go looking to catalog and measure our good works. We’ll let the Lord worry about living in us and through us, in bringing forth fruits of the Spirit in our lives and in working through us those good works which by which Christ loves and serves our neighbor through us.

It’s important to point out one other aspect of our confession of “Christ alone.” And that is that “Christ alone” does not mean “so now we don’t need to go to church or hear the Word or have the Lord’s Supper.” It is those very ways, by the water of the font, the Word heard in the Bible and preaching, and by the Sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood, that Christ alone comes to us. These gifts teach us what “Christ alone” means because each of these gifts is from and about and of Jesus Himself. That means with the Word and water and body and blood, Jesus rescues us from emotions or our good works scorecard or comparing ourselves to others or anything else that would cause us to trust in anything other than Him. And lest you object, “But going to church, that’s DOING something,” recall your Catechism which teaches us that receiving those gifts is really nothing other than the Spirit “calling, gathering, enlightening and sanctifying” us by giving us Christ alone.

The Lutheran confession of “Solus Christus, Christ alone!” is a cry that says in the matter of our salvation, it is Christ alone who accomplishes it. In the matter of our sanctification and Christian life, it’s Christ alone there who also accomplishes and does it. It is all Jesus and none of us. And that is to be a CHRIST-ian, that is, those who boast not in themselves but in Jesus and all that He is and has done and still does for us. Solus Christus! Christ alone!

Rev. Donavon Riley

Grace is God’s promised, free acceptance of sinners because of Christ. That is, as St. Paul writes in Rom. 5[:15]: “How much more the grace of God, and the gift in grace.” By the grace of God, St. Paul means, the reconciliation of sinners with God. By in grace he means, the gift of the Holy Spirit and beginning of eternal life. So, when we speak about grace alone [sola gratia] we mean, “We receive the forgiveness of sins by grace,” that is, “We receive forgiveness of sins freely, because of Christ.“

Grace is free. We contribute nothing to God’s mercy except our sin. Therefore, God’s promises do not depend on how well we manage grace in our daily lives. As St. Paul says in Rom. 9[:15]: Moses pleaded with God to learn how he had managed to receive God’s favor. He wanted to know so that he could find it again when he needed it: “Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people” (Exodus 33:13).

But God hid has face from Moses in the cleft of the rock and preached his name to Moses instead. I AM the LORD, he says, which means “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” God’s gracious acceptance of Moses is not an effect of Moses’ trust, it is who God is. It is his name. This is the precious cornerstone and sure foundation which the builders rejected (Ps. 118:22), by whom we’ve received his grace freely through the promise of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, the chief cornerstone and our sure foundation.

For Christ’s sake God judges that, although we have and remain in sin all our lives, we are not accused and damned because of them. We are under grace, accepted and pleasing to God because of Christ. We are not pleasing to God because of anything in us, our disobedience to his commands, our greatest accomplishments, or our worst failures.

If we fall back on how we feel, our experiences, or our accomplishments we will never know peace. Left to ourselves sin and death hound us day and night, and the power of sin which is the law rules us like a tyrant. In this experience we don’t feel like God is a faithful, loving, and kind heavenly Father. We experience him as a Judge. Then he seems too distant, too removed from our lives, a spectator who has put us on earth to test us, then judge us by how we have chosen to obey or disobey his holy law.

When we are overwhelmed in this way then sins seem to pile on sins until we cannot even measure them. Death is no longer something we watch happen round us, it is in us. We feel we have become death itself. And where is God in all this? He is not watching this happen to us, he is the one doing it to us. For there “is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit.””The poison of asps is under their lips.” “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.””Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:9-20).

But where sin abounded grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20). This means that the more we feel our sins the more we understand and receive forgiveness of our sins as gift, because we see in ourselves nothing which causes us to say, “I deserve forgiveness.” “I’ve earned it, so give me what’s owed to me.”

God does not command us to hope in what we have accomplished by obedience to the Ten Commandments or any laws. Instead, “He has given us hope in grace” (2 Thessalonians 2:16). On this account we know God, or rather, we are known by God, and can approach his throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).

We are not worthy to approach God, sinners that we are, but now Christ Jesus promises us that even though we are unworthy all who call upon God are freely forgiven for his sake. For with the Lord there is mercy (Psalm 130:7). Grace has nothing to do with our worthiness and everything to do with Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Because of Christ we have nothing to fear from God. We can approach him as beloved children approach their dear Father, to accept the gift offered to us by faith.

This is very important for all Christians, that we hold tight to the little word, freely. God’s grace is a gift. He forgives sinners while they are yet sinners for Christ’s sake, “that no one may boast.” God’s grace is free. No strings attached. Without this certainty the Gospel cannot be received and enjoyed as Good News. Without faith that trusts that grace is God’s promised, free acceptance of sinners because of Christ certainty always dangles just out of reach. But with this faith comes a sure and certain hope that all God’s promises are “yes” in Christ. Now we can approach God confidently (Romans 8:34), because of our Christ, “who sits at the right hand of God that he may make intercession for us.”

No one is able to approach God apart from Christ Jesus. He is our Mercy Seat by his blood, our Mediator, our High Priest who brings our prayers to the Father. But how will we call on him whom we do not trust? (Romans 10:14) How will we worship God in Spirit and truth without a confident hope that trusts all God’s promises in Christ are true?

Only God’s free grace reconciles sinners to Him by the forgiveness won for us by Christ. Grace alone restores us to a right relation with God in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Grace alone stills a troubled, terrified conscience. Grace alone freely bestows forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation. Grace alone gives the Holy Spirit and saving faith. By grace alone we are pleasing to God on account of Christ.

Rev. Donavon Riley is Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Weber, MN.

Throughout the month of October, we will be taking a look at the solas of the Reformation on the HT website: faith alone, grace alone, scripture alone and Christ alone.

Jonathan Kohlmeier

“For we hold that man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” – Romans 3:28

We are justified before God by faith alone. Not by works or because we’re worthy of it. Not because we buy a piece of paper to get us out of time spent working ourselves into being worthy. In Christ, we are freely justified by faith.

Now, “by faith” doesn’t mean that we’re justified if we just believe hard enough. We aren’t justified because our faith has really grown and we are now have a mature faith. Your faith isn’t any different than mine and mine isn’t any different than yours, at least if we’re talking about the one true faith.

Why not? Because your faith isn’t your own at all! It’s Christ’s faith, given freely to you. Christ’s faith clings to the waters of your baptism. You are renewed in the one true faith as you hear the word and receive Christ’s body and blood under the bread and the wine.

Faith receives those gifts given in word and sacrament. That faith that has been given catches all those benefits given for you – the forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal life.

Faith says “Amen!” “Yes, it is so!” “Gift received!” Pastor begins the service with, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” You say “amen.” Faith has received the name of God that was placed on you in baptism. A little later pastor says, “I forgive you all your sins…” Faith says “amen!” that forgiveness is received. “The body of Christ given for you.” “The blood of Christ shed for you” “Amen! Amen! These are given for me and received by me.”

Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone

And rests in Him unceasing;
And by its fruits true faith is known,
With love and hope increasing.
For faith alone can justify;
Works server our neighbor and supply

the proof that faith is living.

Paul says in his letter to the Romans that we are justified by faith apart from works of the Law. That’s sola fide — faith alone. We aren’t justified by faith and works or only works. We are justified by faith alone. We are not justified by faith plus something else, but only by Christ’s faith given to us.

So, where do works come in? James says that faith without works is dead. Even stanza nine of Salvation unto Us has Come talks about works. They serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living. The answer is that faith means “in Jesus,” so all of our works are good works in Christ. In Christ, all of our works show that our faith is alive and well.

We confess in the Athanasian Creed that when Christ comes again all people will rise with their bodies and give an account according to their deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal live and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire. You have nothing to worry about when you confess that. You are in Christ. Christ’s faith has been given to you in your baptism. Your works are good works because they are Christ’s works. Good works accompany Christ’s faith and that faith has been given to you.

Faith alone means that we just receive things that are given. God gives forgiveness of sins, he gives us rescue from death and the devil, he gives us eternal life, His Name, and the body and blood of Christ under the bread and wine. God gives, we receive. We don’t ask, take, decide, choose, live, do or accomplish anything. God gives and we receive in faith. By his death on the cross Christ paid for our sins. God counts this faith for us as righteousness in His sight. Faith alone means it’s Christ’s gifts alone. That means the promise is on the Lord’s end and it cannot be broken.

Rev. Mark Buetow

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NKJV)

In Pakistan over this past weekend, suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a big Christian church in Peshawar, Pakistan killing 80 people. Also over the weekend, Muslim terrorists attacked an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. One report says the terrorists told Muslims they could leave safely while the rest would be killed. In Egypt, Christians are targeted for harassment and even murder. What are we to make of such horror stories from the comforts of our living rooms and safe churches where we worship each week without much thought or worry about being blown to bits when we walk outside afterwards?

Jesus says to His disciples, “yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” (John 16:2-4) The fact is, Jesus warns His disciples that their lot in life will be suffering and persecution and even death for His sake.

Let’s be clear. Not every attack against Christians is motivated by religion. Many in other countries attack Christians because they associate them with “the West,” particularly the United States. And so-called Christians have many times engaged in bitter fighting and attacks on other religions which is clearly not what Jesus commanded. The church exists to be where the Gospel is preached, not a political or earthly kingdom. The church is where the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake is proclaimed, not a resistance movement against evil governments in the world.

But most of the attacks made against Christians are, in fact, because the victims are Christians. So let’s be clear on something else. The Christian church is not hated and persecuted despite the Gospel but rather because of it. That is, the enemies of Christ attack His people not because they don’t know what the Gospel is but because they do! They don’t attack and persecute because they are ignorant of what the church teaches but because it teaches that we have no favor with God apart from Jesus, because we confess that there is no salvation outside of Christ, and because that salvation is not dependent upon our own good works or zeal for God.

The Christian confession is that all people are born enemies of God, hating Him and loving themselves more than others, and that only through the blood of Christ are we rescued from that sin and made children of God. The religious notions of the Old Adam contradict that, supposing we can be good enough if we try. The world’s religions say we have it within ourselves to live good lives and to love and serve God. What the Word of God teaches is quite different. We have no capacity to fear, love, or trust in God. We must be converted by the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the Name of Jesus. By this preaching the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us and keeps us in the true faith. It is a horrible thing that the Old Adam will never admit, that we cannot save ourselves but that we must be saved. It is such a terrible idea to the Old Adam that he will attack it wherever he can. And where religions are built upon the idea that people can love God and save themselves, they will inevitably persecute and attack Christians because they believe otherwise.

The simple fact is that if you are a Christian in a nice, comfortable place where you generally don’t have to worry about going to or coming from church, you are in the minority in the world. Still, even in the “civilized West,” we face the constant persecution of those who think the Christian faith is a joke. But whether it is the vicious ridicule of words or the hail of bullets, Christians are hated in this world and that is nothing more or less than Jesus said it would be.

The hope of our brothers and sisters who suffer such things and our own hope is nothing other than Jesus’ victory over all these things. Since He died for the world on Calvary and rose again on Easter, there is simply nothing in this world that can forever harm His people. They can be mocked, attacked, tortured, even killed. Yet they already have victory over those enemies by their baptism into Christ. The fact is they have already died in the waters of holy baptism and therefore even those enemies who take their lives can do nothing more than hasten a Christian’s departure to be with the Lord.

Jesus knew the wrath of His enemies. St. Paul, who himself had been the foremost persecutor and murderer of Christians, knew the suffering that came with bearing the name of Christ. Countless martyrs have also fallen asleep in suffering for having that name of Jesus upon them. And countless disciples of Jesus around the world even today have their lives cut short by the hatred of the enemies of Christ. And yet the Christian church endures. After all these years of persecution and hatred, nations have risen and fallen, religions have come and gone, and yet Christ’s church remains. The Holy Spirit still calls sinners to repentance and faith; He still turns even the hearts of Christ’s enemies to believe and trust in Jesus. And He still promises through Jesus’ own Word that their suffering is nothing in comparison to the glory that is to come. It is that same Spirit that through Christ’s Word and gifts, strengthens His people to endure all things and look with joy and hope to the blessed eternal rest when all our enemies are defeated and there is only everlasting peace.

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, that they may be kept firm in the faith, even unto death, knowing that they will receive from Jesus the crown of life.

Lord Jesus Christ, before whom all in heaven and earth shall bow, grant courage that Your children may confess Your saving name in the face of any opposition from a world hostile to the Gospel. Help them to remember Your faithful people who sacrificed much and even faced death rather than dishonor You when called upon to deny the faith. By Your Spirit, strengthen them to be faithful and to confess You boldly, knowing that You will confess Your own before the Father in heaven, with whom You and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen.

by Rev. William M. Cwirla

Civil society is ordered. Order is what makes civilization civil. The opposite is anarchy. Without government and the “sword,” there would be lawlessness, chaos, and anarchy. Imagine what it would be like if all the police officers in a city were to announce on Sunday evening that they were not coming to work on Monday morning. Or, simply notice what happens when the traffic lights fail at an intersection. Chaos ensues.

Order is God’s gift and blessing. The Word is a creatively ordering Word that sets things in place, including our civil life together. Civil life begins with our parents, who are also our first rulers, but it doesn’t end there. When we step out of our homes onto the streets of our communities, there are still rulers over us and rules to curb us and keep us in line. God knows we are sinners even as Christians and, left to our own devices, we would destroy ourselves and each other. So God places us into a civil order.

Scripture calls the governing authority “God’s minister” or “servant” (Romans 13:1-4). All governing authority is God’s authority, regardless of the form that government takes. It matters not whether the governing authority is a king or an elected president. Jesus reminded the Roman governor Pontius Pilate that he would have no authority had it not been given him from above (John 19:11). Pilate’s authority to sentence Jesus to death was an authority that came from God!

Civil authority is the authority of the “sword” to use the rule of law to reward the good and punish the wicked. This, of course, presumes that those who govern know the difference between goodness and wickedness, right and wrong. That’s why Luther says that those who know the Ten Commandments well are in a good position to govern. If you’re going to wield a sword, you need to know how to swing it accurately and correctly.

Does this mean that the ruler should be a Christian? Not necessarily. The gift of civil authority belongs to God’s gifts of creation and applies to everyone in the same way. The laws of society are not based on the Bible but on work of the law hardwired into our hearts and the conscience that monitors our thoughts, words, and actions (Romans 2:13-14). Our civil laws are based on reason, conscience, and our innate sense of what is right and wrong. We don’t need the Bible to tell us to stop at a red light and to drive in the correct lane. Common sense alone will tell us that.

What do rulers owe their people? Temporal justice. Punish those who do wrong; reward those who do good. Maintain temporal peace and order. Defend life, liberty, and property. Protect those who are defenseless and most vulnerable, including the poor, the frail, children, and the unborn. Keep us from infringing on one another’s liberties and from hurting each other, much like a referee in a football or basketball game. The old Adam, our sinful nature, is a natural-born anarchist who wants his own way at the expense of others. God’s gift of government is to curb and leash him so he doesn’t get out of control.

And what do we owe our rulers? Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21). The apostle Paul listed taxes, revenue, respect, and honor. These are the things that are due “Caesar.” While we may not think of taxes and revenue as “holy work,” governing costs money and those who govern deserve to be paid for their labors in the same way as pastors earn their living from the Gospel. Even Jesus paid the temple tax with a coin taken from a fish’s mouth. But the kingdom of heaven belongs to Christ who seeks faith and not coins.

We owe our rulers respect and honor. They are “God’s ministers.” To dishonor the ruler is to dishonor God Himself. “Respect is earned,” some say, but that’s not correct. We owe respect and honor to our rulers, not because they’ve earned it but because of their office. Even if they act disreputably or we don’t like them or didn’t vote for them, that doesn’t mean we are free to dishonor or disrespect them. They are still “God’s ministers.”

We owe the government our obedience. “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13-14). Does this mean we blindly obey the government? No! When the government tells us to do something that is clearly against God’s Word or our conscience, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). When we disobey the governing authority, we must also be prepared to accept the temporal consequences for our disobedience. The apostles were beaten and jailed because they disobeyed orders not to preach the name of Jesus.

Just be sure it’s God you are obeying, rather than man and not your sinful old Adam, if you choose to disobey the government. And since nothing we do is ever without sin, even our conscientious objections are always made with repentance.

Finally, we owe our rulers and leaders our prayers. “I exhort, therefore, that, first of all supplications, prayers, intercession, and thanksgivings be made for all men; for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

When I served on jury duty, the judge asked me if I, as a Christian minister, could serve in good conscience on a jury. I told him that we considered the court system of our country a gift and instrument of God, and that our congregation prayed weekly for judges and other officials. He replied, “Thank you. We need it.” And they do need our prayers, much more than they need our snarkiness and criticism. It’s our priestly duty and privilege to pray for all in authority. If we don’t pray for our leaders, who will?

Gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for the gift of civil order. Bless all who make, administer, enforce, and judge our laws that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness until we rise to attain our citizenship in your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California, and serves as on the board of directors for Higher Things. He can be reached at wcwirla@gmail.com.