Tag: creed

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The Uncultured Saints

Ep. 11: Jesus’s Killer Crossover and Descent into Hell

God has given us the image of Christ descending into hell, kicking open the doors, being victorious over the demons for our comfort. This doctrine doesn’t stand alone. It’s tied to His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. When we try to make logical sense of Christ’s descent into hell, we end up putting victory right back into the Satan’s hands. Because when we describe it as Scripture does, it doesn’t necessarily make a lot of rational sense. But at least we still end up focusing on Christ, and Him preaching victory over sin, death, and the devil. And that’s right where we should end up: talking proclaiming Jesus, the Gospel for the comfort of troubled consciences.

 

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Higher History

Concord #5: Augsburg Confession (Jesus)

Jesus christian

Article 3: Jesus

In the second article of the Augsburg Confession, the first evangelical Christians presented the problem of sin. Without delay, the solution to sin is given in the very next article of faith: Jesus Christ. It’s a simple and straightforward confession of faith, but there’s a lot packed into a few words.

 

Two Natures

A whole book can be written on this topic alone, but simply put, Jesus is truly God and truly man: not one or the other; not part God and part man; not the body of a man and the soul of God. All of Jesus-body and soul-at the same time human and divine. This is the mystery of the incarnation: “Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary,” (Augsburg Confession III.1-2).

 

Sacrifice

He shared in our humanity so that by His death He would be the sacrifice for the sin of humanity. This includes the sin that has been passed down from Adam, as well as all sins which we ourselves have committed since. His blood earned our forgiveness. He “truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men” (Augsburg Confession III.2-3).

 

Reign

He is now risen and ascended to God’s right hand where He reigns over all creation, and in particular His kingdom of grace. His reign is His gracious activity in sending the Holy Spirit to create faith and to sanctify the faithful. “He also descended into hell, and truly rose again the third day; afterward He ascended into heaven that He might sit on the right hand of the Father, and forever reign and have dominion over all creatures, and sanctify them that believe in Him, by sending the Holy Ghost into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and quicken them, and to defend them against the devil and the power of sin” (Augsburg Confession III.4-5).

 

Return

We believe that Jesus will return, and that will be the Last Day of this present creation. He will raise the dead and give everlasting life to those who believe Him. “The same Christ shall openly come again to judge the quick and the dead, etc., according to the Apostles’ Creed” (Augsburg Confession III.6).

 

There is it. Simple. Clear. Compact. In fact, the whole content of the Christian faith is summarized in this article of faith. The rest of the Augsburg Confession simply unpacks what is already found here: Jesus — true God and true man, the sacrifice for sins, who reigns from God’s right hand, and who will return.

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.

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Higher History

Concord #3: Augsburg Confession (God)

Ceiling art depicting the Christian God

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.