God does not start a process that we must then finish. The Father sent his Son to accomplish a mission, not to partially complete the task. That task was to save the world through faith in Christ.
God did not tell Abraham that if he kept certain traditions and fulfilled various commands, that he would be blessed. Rather, he promised him a son and descendants that would bless the whole world.
The traditions of the Church, though often useful for devotional purposes, can not make us right with God. Pastors and priests are not mediators between God and sinners. But they can point the way. And that way—the only way—is Christ.
I do not have a truck payment this month. In fact, I have not had to make my monthly payments for years. By making regular payments until my debt to the bank was paid off, I received the title to the truck.
God has accomplished something wonderful that the wisdom of the wise will never comprehend, the strength of the strong will not possess, and the piety of the religious can never earn.
We love a lie, especially when it seems like it just might be true. That kind of untruth seems to be especially attractive.
Our works will never earn us salvation, nor were they meant to do so. We cannot reconcile ourselves to God, earn his grace, or otherwise make satisfaction for our sins by keeping the law.
The Golden Rule is another way of stating the second half of the greatest commandment. It helps us put the commandment into action by telling us how to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Is the result of your doctrine love or hate, peace or discord? Do you find that you are often agitated with people, politics, the news, life in general?
When there are divisions in the Church that are based in human reasons or traditions, they must be either resolved or condemned. In the end, after patient and prayerful dialogue, only the truth must stand.
There should be a form of order and discipline in the Church, as there is in every organization. The Lutherans had no squabble with the Roman Church about the ordering of such matters.
One must believe that God acts in the sacraments according to his promises. This is not difficult to comprehend. Simply going through the motions of a ritual is of no effect.
What advantage are the sacraments if they are not believed, if there is no faith in the promises attached to them? Without faith in the Word of God connected with it, baptism is only water
When the sacrament is used with faith in God to do as he promises, great comfort is had, and anxious minds are conferred the peace of God, who is Christ Jesus himself.
Faith is absolutely necessary. Christianity is not a list of things to do; it is faith in the one who has done what we could never do.
God does command his people to pray. Rewards are promised to those who pray. However, there is no promise of grace attached to prayer.
We do not quarrel over whether marriage is instituted by God. Still, it is not commanded that all marry but only that there is faithfulness among those who do marry.
There are groups who claim that there is something better than God’s Word. They believe that the Holy Spirit counsels them directly, without the aid of Scripture.
The Bible says much about the command to preach and teach the Word, and to administer the sacraments. It bids the Church to appoint such persons who are called to this ministry of Word and Sacrament.
Every Christian is a priest before God. Each Christian’s faith in God’s grace is representative of the old priesthood. It is faith itself that is is the duty of the new priesthood—not ceremonies
Are we to make sacrifices? Yes. For example, John teaches us that we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Paul teaches us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices.
By definition, confirmation and extreme unction, or last rites, are not sacraments. They do not contain the clear command of God in Scripture, nor do they have a promise of his grace.
We find in God’s gracious commands, in the sacraments, the essence of New Testament. For these things must be received in faith. We must come before the Word with soft, believing hearts.
The sacraments have the express command of God for all the people of God. Go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching (Matt 28:19–20).
The sacraments are not merely indicators of who we are, in the sense of someone thinking that since a group baptizes in water, and ceremonially eats bread and drinks wine, they must be Christians.