St. Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia saying, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14). We hear these words as a burden, as something we have to do. St. Paul doesn't say the Gospel is fulfilled...
In his work against Desiderius Erasmus' theology of free choice, "The Bondage of the will," Luther wrote concerning the law and its purpose asserting, "When sins are unrecognized, there is no room for a remedy and no hope of a cure, because man will not submit to the touch of a healer when they...
This blog post is the first of many reviews of the Book, A Necessary Distinction, a discussion on Law and Gospel. I pray that it will be helpful in the continual dialogue on this doctrine that is vital to the proper understanding and application of Holy Scripture. Fun times. At first...
St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth saying, "For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's Word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2nd Corinthians 2:17). I, and all my brother pastors, get you when it comes to your sin. We...
Dr. Martin Luther, of blessed and holy memory, writes in Against the Heavenly Prophets saying, "I will here briefly recount these articles of the Christian Faith to which everyone is above all things to pay attention and hold fast. The first is the law of God, which is to be preached so...
The Ten Commandments command us to live a righteous life, a life in faith toward God and fervent love toward our neighbor. This command never goes away. It doesn't stop once we are baptized, nor does it's demand depart from us whenever we go to church. God demands perfect righteousness. The...
Does a Christian love doing the things the Law demands, like loving God and loving their neighbor? Yes. The Christian loves doing the things written on our hearts and revealed in the 10 commandments. Why though do the baptized love to keep the commandments? Well, it's because they are baptized...
No one likes being disciplined. No child wakes up wanting to get a spanking, nor does a teenager want cellphone privileges taken away. No young adult wants to get fired, and the veteran at work doesn't desire to get yelled at for making the same mistakes over and over again. In short, no one...
There is a scene in the movie, The Predator, staring Arnold Schwarzenegger, in which Arnold is running away from the alien predator. The alien does see like we do, but sees body heat and therefore it is almost impossible to hide from him. But in one scene Arnold covers himself completely...