From One We Can Judge The Rest

What follows are two very well done Gospel sermons addressing the odd phenomenon of Lutheran Pastors abandoning, and in many cases bewildering, their congregation, let alone abandoning the pure doctrine of the Lutheran Confessions to head east. These sermons are a great explanation of what being a theologian of the cross is all about.

In recent years a number of prominent Lutherans have left behind the Lutheran confession for either Rome or Constantinople. Many are well acquainted with Richard Neuhaus’ journey to Roman Catholicism, and with Jaroslav Pelican’s pilgrimage to the Orthodox. Recently we have heard of the “brain” drain from the Lutheran tradition; how the best minds are going elsewhere. If one holds that the Lutheran confession is true, as I do, one wonders if these are really the best minds, for if they were, would they be leaving? Occasionally, one hears of individual Lutheran pastors swimming across the Tiber or the Bosphorus River. Although these pastors receive at least a moderate amount of notice, little is said of those congregations who are confused, hurt, and feel betrayed. Some of these congregations even wonder if they are still church. When the pastor leaves for Rome or Constantinople, some of the congregation follows,causing even more divisions and strife.

The following sermon and essay were delivered to Epiphany Lutheran Church in Dorr, MI, on August 28, 2005 after their pastor left for the Antiochian Orthodox Church. It is offered in the hope that it may be helpful to others.

-- ABC3+


Matthew 16:21-26

What image comes to mind when you hear the word “traitor”? If you are an American, the word “traitor” and “Benedict Arnold” are nearly synonymous. Arnold was a man who worked his way up to the top of the Colonial military establishment. He began as an enlisted man, eventually becoming a general in the continental army. He fought bravely and won many victories against the British. He also had a number of set backs in his personal life and career which made him a bitter man. Eventually, this once trusted hero of the American cause switched his loyalties. His former friends became his enemies, while his former enemy became his friend. General Arnold petitioned to become the commander of West Point. Because of the trust General Washington had for Arnold, he was given this command. Only Arnold’s intentions were not pure; for he planned to surrender the fort to the British, dealing his former friends a blow that might have changed the outcome of the war. His treachery was discovered before the damage done. Benedict Arnold lived out his days embittered with remorse and as long as the United States remains his name will be associated with “traitor.”

The world has had its share of “traitors”, men and women who have betrayed each other for some cause, for some gain, or for love. The thing about traitors is that they oftentimes were heroes and even considered great or the best of the best before changing sides. Perhaps, you have suffered at the hand of a “Benedict Arnold” in your lifetime. Perhaps, you have felt betrayed by a person, a friend, or an institution. A secret shared was revealed – betraying your trust. A common cause was forsaken. It hurts to be betrayed. Perhaps you have even betrayed another person yourself and had to live with regret and remorse.

In the Gospel lesson for today, we hear of something worse than betrayal. Peter becomes worse than a traitor. Peter does anti-Christ. He opposes Christ and joins forces with Satan. What a dramatic change from last week’s Gospel lesson when Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ.

In last week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus asked Peter what the crowds were saying about Jesus. He seemed at the top of his game being compared to famous prophets and men of God from the past. Jesus seemed destined for success. When Jesus asked the question, Peter got the answer right. He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Peter was commended for his confession. Jesus also promised to build his church on the rock, that is, the confession that he is the Christ.

In the reading for today, which may have happened only moments after Peter made the confession that Jesus is the Christ, we see something different. Jesus tells his disciples what is about to take place. The future Jesus describes does not match up with Peter’s vision. Jesus told his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem to suffer many things. He told his disciples that he would be rejected by all the power-brokers of the day. He told his disciples that he would die and then rise again on the third day. Peter could not stand to hear what was about to happen to Jesus. His visions of grandeur, of Jesus ruling majestically in Jerusalem – no doubt with the twelve disciples seated next to him – was shattered. Peter had no use for a Jesus who would be rejected,suffer, and die. So Peter did anti-Christ; he joined forces with Satan to oppose Jesus.

The future Jesus described for himself was one of humility, suffering, rejection, betrayal,and death. Jesus told of a future any person would try to avoid at all costs. Who would knowingly walk to death when death could be avoided simply by taking a different path? Who would willingly face public humiliation when it could easily be avoided? Who would submit to terrible suffering? Who would follow a leader that told his disciples that grief, suffering, and death awaited? Not Peter. He had much grander plans for Jesus. And so it is often with us. We do anti-Christ when we go against how Jesus would be Lord to us and to his church, when we go against being transformed into his image, into the image of the cross.

The Lord’s church, the Lord’s people, are made and formed in his image. The church takes on the image of her Savior Jesus. In this life, the image of Jesus that we see is of him suffering and dying on the cross. This is not a pretty picture. The world does not want to see a suffering Jesus. This is why St. Paul wrote, “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17) The cross of Jesus never makes sense to the world. It does not make sense to us at times either. By nature we desire to see a glorious, powerful Jesus who does away with his enemies, who comes down from the cross, so to speak, to take care of those who mock and jeer him, a Jesus who uses his power and might to make his church strong and respected.

To put it another way, do you feel better when the church has ten people or one hundred in worship? Most people and pastors, if they are honest, will say they feel better when more people are present for worship. Oftentimes the counting of people is equated with the success of a congregation. When problems arise in congregations, when attendance drops, when programs don’t seem to get off the ground, often times we feel as if Jesus is not helping and supporting us. We may feel as if Jesus has failed us. Yet no matter what problems a congregation may face – whether attendance is soaring or dropping, whether there is heartache and strife, whether there is troubles with the pastor or the congregation – Jesus never fails his church. Jesus never fails his people. No matter what difficulties and sufferings a congregation goes through Jesus is still giving out his forgiveness through his Word and forgiving gifts. Jesus still gives out his true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and the nourishment of your soul.

The church on this earth has her beauty hidden – hidden behind the scars, blows, and wounds inflicted upon her by the devil and world. There is no ideal congregation; all have their warts and blemishes. Quite frankly, the Lord’s church here on earth is nothing to look at. Yet Jesus sees beauty in his bride and he transforms her through his suffering and death on the cross into his holy, pure, and virgin bride. He sees beauty where all we see are problems, hurts, pain, and suffering. Yet the church remains because he has promised that the church will remain wherever he is. Jesus has promised to be where his Word is preached purely and his forgiving gifts are given out according to his institution.

So it also goes in our lives. Is it any surprise that the lives of the Lord’s people would parallel the life of his church? We, also, face sufferings, hardships, and trials in our lives. We get sick, have disappointments in our job, career, family, and relationships, and face the attacks of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature. We struggle with temptation. At times we may be tempted to think that Jesus has failed us. We may be tempted to do anti-Christ, to seek the message of prosperity, success, and positive thinking – to avoid the cross that Jesus has laid in our lives.

Jesus tells his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. No one wants to bear a cross. Even Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that his Father take the cup of suffering, that he take the cross away. Yet bearing the cross for Jesus is not something we decide to do, or something we take upon ourselves. We have enough sorrow in our lives without having to go out and look for more. The stuff we face in our lives, the crosses that we bear, comes to us because we are being transformed into the image of Jesus. We belong to him and he gives us these crosses, these sufferings, so that we learn to trust him all the more, so that we cling to his Word and promises. He gives us these crosses and sufferings so that our sinful nature is put to death. Death is a painful thing and our sinful nature does not like being put to death. Yet it has been drowned in the waters of Holy Baptism and every day a new person emerges from the font. Every day our sinful nature is put to death and every day we face the struggles and crosses of this life as the devil and world wage battle against us. Yet no matter what we face as individuals or as a congregation, Jesus never fails us.

Look how Jesus treated Peter. Jesus exorcised Peter. He cast Satan out when he said, “Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you do not setting your mind on the things of God but the things of men.” Jesus also cast Satan out of you at your Baptism. There in his Name with the water Jesus delivered you from Satan’s kingdom. There Jesus turned your mind away from the things of men to be focused on the things of God. In your Baptism, Jesus transformed you into his image. From that moment on your life in Christ takes on his imagine,including the image of his suffering and death. Therefore, our lives here on earth are often full of suffering and grief.

You might ask, “How is my suffering as a Christian different from a person who is not?” Although your hardships and sufferings may look like other people’s, the Lord has given you a cross to bear that is uniquely yours. He places crosses in your life so that you trust in him and his promises rather than yourself. He has given you his promise that he will never leave or forsake you. He has promised you that he will not give you more than you can endure. He has given you his promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.

If Satan had his way with us, we would all become traitors to our Lord. If Satan had his way, all of us would do anti-Christ. Just as Jesus exorcised Peter and kept him on the rock, on the confession that Jesus is the Christ, so too, Jesus has exorcised you in Holy Baptism. He has delivered you from all your sins and has transformed you into his image. In this life we are transformed into the image of our crucified Savior, who bears the lashes of affliction, grief,suffering and death. In the life to come, we will be transformed into the image of our resurrected Savior, shining in his glory. When our Lord returns on the clouds in his glory and his people see him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Lord’s church will be presented to him as the pure, beautiful, virgin bride redeemed in his blood. On that day, she will no longer bear the marks of suffering or indignity. Her warts and blemishes will be gone. Then the Lord’s church and his people will be in harmony as they celebrate at the marriage banquet,which our Lord Jesus gives us a foretaste in Holy Communion.

When the Lord gave you his Name, when he exorcised you in Holy Baptism, you were made in his image – in his image under the cross and his image in glory. Remember that Jesus never fails you. What a Lord we have.

Go in peace. Amen.



“This article also affords a glorious testimony that the Church of God will exist and abide in opposition to all the gates of hell, and likewise teaches which is the true Church of God, lest we be offended by the great authority and majestic appearance of the false Church, Rom. 9, 24. 25.”(FC SD XI, 50.)

One evening when I was tied up in meetings at church, my wife went to a funeral visitation for a co-worker. Being unable to procure a baby-sitter, she took our then four year-old son with her. As they drove to the place of the visitation, my wife explained to my son what had happened, what he would see, and why they were going. The funeral home was directly across from a large Roman Catholic church that nearly took up an entire city block. The architecture was impressive and gothic. The stained glass was magnificent. Large wooden doors provided entry into this majestic church. When my son saw this church, he could hardly contain his awe. He blurted out, “Look, mommy, a castle for Jesus.”

This story is the kind of memory parents will cherish about their children all their days. But it is more than simply a cute story; it illustrates an important theological point. One might be minimally impressed that a pastor’s four-year-old son recognized that this building belonged to Jesus. He knew it was a church. To be able to recognize the church at four years old seems slightly better than the Augsburg Confession’s expectation of children when it says, “a seven year old child knows what the church is.” (AC XII, 2) You might be wondering why we can sometimes be so confused about the church, if a four year old and a seven year old can recognize the church. Before you feel badly about your own church recognizing abilities notice what the four-year-old saw? He saw a majestic and glorious building as the church. He saw the splendor, the awesome architecture, and the authority as the church. He saw a castle for Jesus.

Now castles were not designed primarily for comfort or luxury. Castles were designed as strongholds and fortresses. Castles were designed to display power, majesty, and authority. Castles were for kings who displayed their power and might in the act of war. Castles were for conquerors. The phrase “a castle for Jesus” contains a lot of theology. Out of the mouths of babes, we see the kind of portrait we would like to paint of Jesus and of his church. In the words “a castle for Jesus,” we see that our natural desire is for Jesus to rule over the world in his castle, that is, his church, by displaying his great power, majesty, and authority. Naturally, a powerful, mighty king needs to have a glorious, majestic, and authoritative castle from which to reign. Thus, the church we desire by nature is a church that is outwardly impressive, successful, and majestic. We want people to gaze at the church with awe. From a little boy who found a castle for Jesus, we see that from as early as we can speak we are all theologians of glory at heart.

You may not be inclined to consider yourself a theologian but you are. As Gerhard Forde explains, “Being a theologian just means thinking and speaking about God.” (1) Every person thinks and speaks of God during his lifetime. Tragic events such as sickness and death, as well as momentous occasions such as the birth of a child often make people think of God. People think of God by cursing and swearing in his name. People also chose not to think of God. The thinking and speaking of God makes a theologian, which is part of the reason there are so many different religions in the world. Without the true knowledge of God, people will invent their own gods. All people are theologians in that everyone thinks and speaks of God.

Just as all people are theologians, all people have a theology. In one sense, there are as many theologies as there are people in this world, and for us to try to catalog all the various theologies would be an exercise in futility. But as with most things a multitude of variation can be summarized into a few broad categories. Dr. Martin Luther in the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 (2) placed all theology into two categories. He described theology as either being a theology of glory, or being a theology of the cross. A theologian of glory does not know God hidden in suffering. (3) Such a person prefers “works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general good to evil.” (4) He seeks the biggest, the best, the most impressive, the most successful, the most alive, and the most ancient as marks of the true church. In summary, the theologian of glory seeks to find, or if he cannot find it to build a castle for Jesus.

Those who are seeking a castle for Jesus find that castle by comparison and measurement. Anytime we compare or measure something we are in the realm of the Law, which sizes up things to see if they met the goal or requirement. In the case of a church, one might measure whether the attendance is at a certain level, or compare the age of its traditions, liturgy, and practices, or size up how alive a congregation or church body is in comparison to another. Such comparisons are similar to how a first down is determined in football. The referee gets out the measuring stick to see if the tackled player crossed the line or not. In the case of the church such measuring results in determinations of whether or not that congregation is the church or not. The Law knows no exceptions – close does not cut it. One problem with using measurements and comparisons as the security of the church is that in a fallen and sinful world nothing will measure up perfectly. Doubt is never totally removed. Attendance has dropped for three months in a row perhaps there is something wrong with the congregation; perhaps it has ceased to be church. Giving is down and now the congregation is spilling red ink, perhaps the Lord has taken away his favor. The pastor doesn’t speak well and his sermons don’t seem to connect with the people, perhaps he is not really from the Lord. Add your own test of a successful church. How many faults can a congregation have and still be church? How many aberrations and flaws? What if there is a 50/50 mix? Is it still at church? How do you decide?

Ultimately the question comes down to what guarantees the church. If the way to discern the church is wrapped up in the measuring and comparing of a congregation to some benchmark be it history, tradition, apostolic succession, success, size, majesty, or glory the church was presented in the Scriptures fails the test. The Scriptures tell us of Noah a preacher of righteousness. The Lord gave him one of the most difficult calls imaginable for a pastor to have. The Lord called Noah to preach repentance and forgiveness for 120 years. What a lousy preacher Noah must have been by any reasonable standard. His sermons were boring and irrelevant to a world unable to see the approaching danger and destruction. Where were Noah’s converts? When the Lord sealed up the ark, all Noah had to show for his 120 years of preaching was eight people. Imagine that, over the course of 120 years only eight people believed Noah’s preaching. If you recall what happened after the flood was over, you might wonder how effective Noah’s preaching was – one of Noah’s sons didn’t turn out too good. What of the church? At the time of the flood, the church consisted of eight people sealed in a wooden ark, full of two of every kind of animal. Hardly an impressive sight as the ark bobbed helplessly over the surface of the water.

Throughout the Scriptures the church appears rather unimpressive, rather helpless, and quite frankly like it is about to die. The church at the time of Elijah was so weak and unimpressive that Elijah thought he was the only person left on earth who believed. He prayed that the Lord kill him so he did not have to endure being the only one. The Lord responded by showing Elijah fire and an earthquake, yet in all that power and might Elijah did not find the Lord. Elijah finally found the Lord in a quiet and unimpressive whisper. The Lord told Elijah that he had not been left behind, for there were still 7,000 left. Imagine that there were only 7,000 and 1 people in the Lord’s church in the entire world. There isn’t time to go through all the other pathetic examples of church in the Old Testament such as the church in captivity, which prevented it from even doing the liturgy correctly. No temple, no sacrifices, no church one would logically conclude – yet the Lord preserved for himself a people; he preserved his church.

To take an example from the New Testament consider the congregation in Corinth. The congregation had been founded by St. Paul, or had it? The congregation was fighting among themselves who really was the leader. Some said St. Paul, others said Apollos, and others said Peter, and still others Christ. Another way to put it is that some wanted to go West to Rome, others East to Constantinople, some to Wittenberg to follow Luther, and others just simply wanted to be called Christians. The congregation refused to discipline people who lived in open and manifest sin that was so shameful even the pagans would not consider living that way. There were divisions and great strife among members. Congregational members even took each other to court in lawsuits. To make matters worse they couldn’t agree on doctrine. Some even denied the Resurrection of the dead, not only of the dead but also of Christ himself. Some of the congregation thought Christ had already returned and that they had been left behind. Then there were the worship problems. The Corinthians had women preachers. They couldn’t follow the rubrics in the hymnal. They had charismatic and contemporary worship – you can’t get more contemporary than making it up on the spot. They even managed to mess up the Lord’s Supper’s liturgy.

One would be hard pressed to find a congregation or church body today with as many problems as the congregation in Corinth. Yet notice how St. Paul addresses this messed up congregation. He writes, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:2 – ESV) St. Paul calls this messed up congregation the “church of God.” It was the church of God because Jesus was there. What makes a group of people into the church is Jesus, not tradition, glory, or majesty. Jesus can even make a group of people as troubled as the Corinthians into his church.

Where Jesus is, there is his church. The only guarantee of the church is Jesus. No matter what a person would like to see in the church; no matter what should be present in a healthy congregation, ultimately in the end what makes that group of people a church is Jesus. St. Paul can even call the troubled group of people at Corinth the church because Jesus was there among those people calling, gathering, and sanctifying them as his holy people, as his church.

The only question that really needs to be answered is how does one find Jesus? The Scriptures tell us to “Seek the Lord while he may be found.” Yet our Lord is so gracious that he doesn’t leave us to wander around in search of him. He tells us exactly where to find him. When Jesus instituted both Holy Baptism and the Holy Ministry he promised his church, “And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 – ESV) When Jesus instituted Holy Absolution he promised his church, “For where two or three are gathered in my Name, there I am in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20 – ESV) When Jesus instituted Holy Communion, he told his church, “This is my body… This is my blood.”

In the things the Lutheran Confessions call the Sacraments, or the means of grace, Jesus has promised to be located at for his people. Where the means of grace are going on, where Baptisms are done in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, where sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name, where the Lord’s true body and blood are given out according to his institution and mandate, where his Word is preached, there is Jesus and there is his church. The Augsburg Confession confesses that the holy church is “the assembly of all believers among who the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.” (AC VII) So if you want to find the church, you find Jesus. To find Jesus you go to where there is baptism, absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching of the Gospel.

Our problem is that Jesus does not seem to do a very good job preserving his church. The means of grace do not seem like very effective tools to build a castle for Jesus. People can be baptized and then turn around and act as if the Name of God was never inscribed on their forehead. People can hear that they are forgiven and not live as if they were. The swine can even trample the Lord’s body and blood under foot. People can tune out the preaching of the Word and pastors can preach poorly, stumbling over their words. Congregations, pastors, and even church bodies can fail to discipline those who have erred – just as the church in Corinth failed to expel the sinner from their midst. Historic and ancient practices can be discarded in favor of innovations that have no standing in the historic church. The historic liturgy can be replaced. Pastors may be less than faithful, even to the point of forsaking the vows they took at their ordination. No matter how wrong, tragic, or sad all this is, no matter how these things blemish the church and hurt people – so long as Jesus remains in his Word and forgiving gifts there his church is also. The church’s future and foundation does not depend on our faithfulness, rather it depends on Jesus’ faithfulness to his word and promises. When we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful.

To the church at Corinth St. Paul wrote, “The Word of the cross is folly.” (1 Corinthians 1:18) The cross is foolishness because it is an instrument of suffering, shame, and humiliation. The cross was such a horrible symbol the church did not widely adopt its use in art and decoration until the 3rd or 4th century. The cross caused Peter to do anti-Christ when he forbad (sic) Jesus from going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Jesus responded by exorcising him and by telling the disciples to pick up their cross and follow him. Discipleship is following Jesus to the cross, that is to say, following Jesus involves being transformed into the image of the crucified Jesus. Just as Jesus appeared beaten, bloody, and in anguish when he suffered on the cross, so too the lives of individual Christians and of the Lord’s church on earth appear to the world. In the second letter to the Corinthian congregation, St. Paul tells them that he is always “carrying in the body the death of Jesus.” (2 Corinthians 4:10 – ESV) Literally, this passage speaks of carrying around the corpse of Jesus with the accompanying stench of death. To the world, Christians and the church reek of rotting flesh; they smell to the world like a dead body. This is what it means to live under the cross.

In the Heidelberg Disputation Luther wrote, “Therefore, in the crucified Christ is true theology and the recognition of God.” (5) The true words about God are related to the crucified Christ. It is only in Christ crucified that we see God. The purpose of the Gospel of St. Mark is to show you that Jesus is the Son of God. Read through Mark and note when Jesus is called the Son of God. First, at his Baptism, the Father identifies Jesus as his Son. The demons call him the Son of God, but Jesus always silences them. On occasion the crowd will call him the Son of God after he performs a miracle or displays his power, yet once again Jesus silences the crowd. He does not want to be known as the Son of God for displaying his power. The only time that Jesus allows himself to be called the Son of God is when the centurion exclaims, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39) Jesus wants you to see that he is most your Savior, most the Son of God for you when he hangs dead on the cross. We see Jesus as our Lord when he is crucified. When Jesus seems most helpless and lest able to help you and me, then he is most our Savior; then we see him as the Son of God. This is the theology of the cross.

We as Christians, we who are called to be the church of God, live in the shadow of Jesus’ cross. The church at times is rather unchurchly. The church is full of problems and strife. The church has blemishes, bruises, and scars from being abused in this world by the devil. The church bears wounds inflicted by the sinners who dwell within her walls. And yet the church remains, endures, and thrives because Jesus is there. Jesus doesn’t build for himself a glorious palace, or a mighty castle that he can reign with power and glory. Rather Jesus builds his church with living stones. You with all your hurts, blemishes, flaws, sufferings, and trials are the living stones that Jesus uses to build a spiritual house. (1 Peter 2:5) When the world looks at the church and sees it built on the living stone the builders rejected, that is, on Christ, with all of us being stacked on Jesus as living stones, the world sees nothing attractive.

At times, we as members of this church see nothing attractive. At these times Satan tempts us to become theologians of glory. He tempts us to leave the shadow of the cross and to seek the glory and splendor the world has to offer. He tempts us to seek a church built on something other than Jesus and his means of grace. He tempts us to seek the security of tradition, the majesty of bishops, the impressiveness of numbers, and the power of success. He tempts us to leave behind the crucified Jesus. He tempts us to leave behind suffering and the cross.

Yet through the eyes of faith we see the church for what she is – the holy bride of Christ, founded on his Word and forgiving gifts. Through the eyes of faith we confess with C.F.W. Walther, “So what a miraculous building is the church! – She appears so weak and yet she stands so unshakably firm; she appears to be so poor and yet she possesses such an immeasurable wealth; she appears so small and yet she encompasses such a great uncountable host!”6 The true glory of the church is hidden in the shadow of the cross. Be not ashamed of the cross, nor of the sufferings and trials you face as the Lord’s people, as his church. “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Peter 2:10) You were made into the people of God, into the Lord’s church, through Holy Baptism. And now the Lord continues to preserve you as his people, as his church, through his Word and gifts of forgiveness. Although people within the church can and will fail you, even if your pastor fails you, your Lord Jesus will never fail you. He will always be faithful to his promises to you. Through his Word and forgiveness the gates of hell will never prevail against you, his beloved people, his holy church.

Jesus does not need a castle, for he reigns from the tree of the cross. May we all become theologians of the cross.

1 Gerhard O. Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, 1518,(Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, MI, 1997), 10.

2 Martin Luther, “The Heidelberg Disputation, 1518.” AE 31, 39-70; Studienausgabe (SA) 1, 186-218.

3 Martin Luther, “Heidelberg Disputation,” Thesis 21. AE 31, 53.

4 Ibid.

5 SA 1, 208:17. “Ergo in Christo crucifixo est uera Theologia (et) cognitio Dei.” (Also compare my translation with that of AE 31, 53.)

6 C.F.W. Walther, “Sermon for the Dedication of a Church – Psalm 87, 1865,” translated by Rev. Joel Basely

H/T - Reformation Today
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Perhaps you've seen this video recently:





Here are the lyrics:

Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said all should lend a hand to make the country strong again

Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today, equal work means equal pay.

Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said take a stand, make sure everyone gets a chance

Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight

Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
Yeah! Barack Hussein Obama

…Hello Mr. President, We honor you today
For all your great accomplishments, we all do say hooray
Hooray, Mr. President you are No. 1
The first black American to lead this nation

There is another video that I saw this morning similar to this one. It showed a group of school-aged children on a stage chanting in unison. I've scoured the internet for it, I even found it on you-tube, but apparently whoever put it on there has set the video to private, in effect making it un-viewable without permission of the "videographer". If I remember correctly the chant went something like this:

Change has come. Change has come. The nations have hope. Education is the way. Education is the truth. Education is the secret. etc....

This was all in praise of Obama and the things he has achieved, by the means which he had achieved them. The writers of this liturgy employ Obama's campaign key words "hope" and "change" and laud our President, his accomplishments, and their faith in him to achieve what he has set out to do openly. I fine this...just...uh, it's, it's creepy.

Now, this lyric from the video above:

"...He said red, yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight..."

...is a direct rip-off of the children's hymn; Jesus Loves the Little Children. Here's the from that song:

"...Red and yellow, black and white, they [i.e. children] are precious in His sight..."

Similarly you could take:

"Education is the way. Education is the truth. Education is the secret."

...excepting the last lyric, one could compare it to the scripture in John 14:6:

"...Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life..."

...with the word "education" usurping the subject "Jesus".

This smacks of caesarism, and it is wrong. Our leaders are not divine beings to be served, or anything of the sort; they are OUR public servants, and not vice-versa. And, furthermore, this really goes to show that education among secularists, is in practice, their church. Their means of grace: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Their hope is in the institutions ability of creating future leaders to cure the world's ills. So far, their track record hasn't been great, to say the least.

And, for anybody who thinks I'm playing sides here, please see this video of school-age children worship a cardboard idol of George W. Bush.





This is equally both, disgusting and disturbing! After all, these Christians are to direct their worship towards Christ, and not the President. Who has bewitched them?

In the end only one thing matters, and it is this:

"Jesus saith unto [Thomas], I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Jesus is Lord. He is our rightful Object of hope and faith, that makes all things new, you know, a genuine change! He will deliver us to Heaven. It is in Him that we should trust!
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Here is another solid source from Dr. Gregory Jackson's, Thy Strong Word, as a defense of the King James Version. Here is an apt quote for a sober analysis of the subject matter from this work:

We woke up at 3:45 A.M, ate breakfast, and out the door by 4:45A.M. We arrived at a local shopping center in Dover DE, where we met up with the "912 Delaware Patriots" group. I estimate we had about a hundred plus in our caravan alone! I can thoroughly affirm that this group was not bought and paid for by any corporation or anything of the sort. It was simply a grassroots operation from the bottom up, and nothing but concerned citizens, all. Also, I'm a born and raised citizen of New Jersey (please don't hold it against me), yet my father is a recent Jersey "ex-pat" to the "first state" because of the repressive taxation in NJ, hence the reason I went to DE. So, for the day, I was an honorary Delawarean.

There were five buses altogether; three of them luxurious coaches, and two not-so-luxurious school buses. We, of course, rode in an extraordinarily bouncy school bus ( and yes, I was at times airborne, and, yes, my back still hurts).

We were supposed to set off by 5:30A.M., however, we didn't get moving until almost 6A.M. due to some minor unforeseen events. Yet, nevertheless, it took us about two hours to arrive in DC. We filed out of the buses and started to ascend onto Capitol hill via a march befittingly down Delaware Avenue.


When we arrived at the Capitol building we quickly assembled and then ironically divided. According to our bus captain we could either go do the "march", or just stay seated at the Capitol building. We chose the latter. Our bus captain jokingly informed us that the marchers would be referred to on the mainstream media as "the mob", and the people who stay seated would be referred to as the "tin-foil hat" wearers; I guess I'm of the tin-foil hat persuasion, and apparently so was he.



Their were speakers prior to the official start of 1:00P.M, when the place really began to fill up. We were informed about half way through the event that approximately 1.5 million were in attendance and that the beltway was shutdown. That was good news and received well by the crowd!




The people there were mostly comprised of our "seasoned" citizens, however, there were many young families, and many college students as well. The military was well represented, and to my surprise there were many medical professionals there too.

Most of the speakers at the event were pretty decent, some more so than others, but more than half the speakers were grassroots organizers who helped put together this gigantic event, so they were excused if they were, in fact, inferior public speakers. There were a couple senators, a celebrity or two, but most of the speakers were everyday ordinary people you'd meet at the grocery store.

Overall the event was wholesome and respectful. I never once heard anything from any of the speakers or the crowd condoning violence against authorities, speaking profanities, or anything of the sort. In fact the most extreme thing said was, "vote the bums out in 2010". That would be a bloodless and welcome revolution indeed!



The event wrapped up around 4:45P.M. and we began to make our way back to the buses. I must comment on something remarkable (and I wish I had captured a picture of it for proof). As the people assembled on the south lawn of Capitol Hill were able to disperse with little problem or resistance, we were able to see as we passed by, the state of it. One would expect as I surely did that the place would be filled with garbage. However, the lawn was spotless. Not a single piece of trash! After Obama's inaugural address it took cleaning crews about 4 days to clean the place. I wouldn't be surprised if the ground crews had to clean anything at all after the 912 event. I think it was another indicator of how respectful the crowd was that day. Someone even joked that we spent too much money on the place to junk it up!

We got onto our buses and headed home with no problems. We got back to the shopping center from which we originally departed at about 8:15P.M. My father and I at that point hadn't really had anything substantial to eat since about 4:00A.M, so we stopped to get some much needed grub, and boy did it hit the spot. Unfortunately for me I had about another one and half hour drive back up to Jersey. I didn't get home until about 11:00P.M. Yeah, it was a long day to say the least!

Now, if the number of 1.5 million in attendance is correct, that means that roughly 1 out of every 300 people in America was at that rally. That's pretty amazing! Obama dismissed it today by saying that it wasn't indicative of the overall American opinion regarding his policies. I'm sorry, 1 out of every 300 people is a pretty good indicator that a sizable portion of the country believes our President is taking us in the wrong direction. As for congress, I wouldn't want to be an incumbent in 2010. I think there is going to be large turnovers in both parties. Nevertheless, it was an amazing day, and an amazing event to attend. I would gladly do it again!

That's all for now, until next time...
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Brethren in Christ, the Holy Scriptures use three terms in regards to our great salvation – justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification has to do with the fact that we have been saved in time past. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8). Sanctification refers to the fact that we are presently being saved from the experiential hold that sin has had upon us. Thus Paul writes, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12, 13). Finally, glorification looks to the future when we shall be saved from all aspects of sin – in body, soul, and spirit. Jesus said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matt. 24:13). With justification, we have been saved from the penalty of sin. With sanctification, we are being saved from the experiential power of sin. And with glorification, we shall be saved from the very presence of sin.

Romans 6:3-11 begins a section in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans dealing with the doctrine of sanctification. The Apostle writes, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now it is important to understand the context of this passage within the overall Book of Romans. The theme of Romans is the righteousness of God, as wrought by Christ through His perfect obedience, suffering, and death on the Cross, and as offered to us in the Word of the Gospel. Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” (Rom. 1:16, 17). Paul points out that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18). All men, both Jews and Gentiles, stand condemned before God, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, the only way of salvation is through “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Rom. 3:22). Paul shows that it is by this foreign righteousness (as Luther called it), belonging to Christ but imputed to us by faith, that all men have ever been saved. He cites David and Abraham as examples of this way of salvation in Romans 4. Finally Paul shows how sure and secure this way of salvation is in Romans 5, concluding with the statement that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).

In Romans 6, Paul imagines someone raising an objection to what he has just said. This critic thus questions, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). In other words, “if what you are saying, dear Paul, is true, that “where sin abounds, grace does much more abound”, then what is to stop a person from sinning? Why not continue in sin, that grace might all the more abound? Here we see the danger of fallen human reason. Reason will often take a truth of Scripture, and draw a reasonable deduction from it that violates other Scripture. It will say, “if this is true, then it follows that this too must be true”. As the Calvinists wrongly conclude, “if it is true that God predestines only some to salvation, then He surely does not love all people”. Or as the Arminians falsely reason, “if God loves all people, then He surely did not choose only some to salvation, etc.” This is the voice of fallen human reason. It insists that its deductions are true and right, even though the Word of God plainly teaches otherwise. This is why we are to be “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Reason would charge the freeness and abundance of God’s grace as an actual license for sin. “Let us do evil, that good may come.” (Rom. 3:8).

We should also underscore that when this objector speaks of “continuing in sin”, he is not talking about the fact that all Christians still sin daily due to the weaknesses of their faith and of the flesh. No, the real Christian is grieved by his own sins, and longs to live righteously before the Lord. Like Paul, he “delights in the law of God after the inward man” (Rom. 7:22). He does sin, but he also always repents. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Prov. 24:16). Rather, this objector is speaking about “continuing in sin” in an on-going unrepentant manner. Such a one is at peace with his sin, and has no intention of turning from it. To him the warning of Hebrews belongs, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” (Heb. 10:26, 27).

Paul now gives his answer to this objection from the voice of depraved human reason. As to “continuing in sin, that grace might abound”, he says, “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:2). Paul’s answer as to why a true Christian cannot continue in sin is that the Christian is “dead to sin”. This being “dead to sin” becomes the theme of the following verses, Romans 6:3-11. In verse 3 we see that we “were baptized into Christ’s death?” Verse 4, “we are buried with him by baptism into death”. Verse 5, “we have been planted together in the likeness of his death”. Verse 6, “our old man is crucified with him”. Verse 7, “For he that is dead is freed from sin”. Verse 8, “Now if we be dead with Christ, etc.”. And verse 11, “likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin”. Our death to sin is mentioned in just about every verse. Thus, we can see that this death to sin is the key to Christian sanctification. But we must now ask two questions – 1) How do we become dead to sin?, and 2) What does it mean to be dead to sin? It is these two questions that Paul now goes on to answer in Romans 6:3-11.

In Romans 6:3-5 Paul answers for us the question, how do we become dead to sin? He writes, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3, 4). Here we see that we were made dead to sin by being joined to Christ in the waters of baptism. As Luther often pointed out, baptism is no empty sign. Rather it is the effectual means by which God applies to us the atoning blood of Christ and causes us to be born again. It is a true “washing of regeneration” (Tit. 3:5). By it we have the sure and certain knowledge that we have been joined to Christ and are made partakers of the benefits that He has wrought in our behalf. Paul tells us here that via baptism, we were joined to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. This is not just true of some of us, but of all of us, for he says, “so many of us as were baptized”. The Greek word is “hosos”, and means “all collectively”. Thus, this entire passage and all of the blessings it describes applies to each and every one of us who have been baptized. The certainty of our state of grace is founded upon the objective fact that we were baptized in accordance with the Word of God for the remission of our sins.

In verse 5 Paul further shows the intimacy of this union that God has effected though the waters of baptism between the believer and Christ. He writes, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Paul uses an interesting Greek word here for the expression “planted together”. It is the compound word “symphytos”, taken from “sun”, meaning “with” or “together with”, and “phytos”, meaning “to make to grow”. So the word literally means that by baptism we have been “made to grow together” with Christ. This word is sometimes used for grafting a branch. For instance, Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). When Jesus says that He is the vine, He means the whole vine, both stalk and branches. We are not just connected to Christ as branches, but He is in us as branches and we are in Him as the vine in the closest possible union. Paul says, “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Eph. 5:30). The members are not just connected to the body, but rather are inseparable from the body itself. Again, we are in Him, and He is in us in an incomprehensible, yet real and most intimate union. Our union with Christ is likened to the union of a wife with her husband. “They two shall be one flesh” (Eph. 5:31).

When Paul says that we are “planted together with” Christ, he used the Greek preposition “sun”, rather than the preposition “meta”, which also means “with”. He could have used either preposition, but “sun” expresses a stronger and more indivisible union. If I were to bake some biscuits, I might pull all of the ingredients out of the refrigerator and pantry and set them beside one another on the counter. Thus the ingredients would be “with” (meta) one another (in their own separate areas on the counter). However, if I were to get out a big bowl, and throw the ingredients all in together and mix them all up to make a single substance, then they would now be “with” (sun) one another in a more intimate and incomprehensible way. It is in this latter sense that we have been “planted together with (sun)” Christ. So in answer to our first question – how did we become dead to sin – the answer is by our baptism by which God joined us to Christ in the closest possible union. Thus His life is reckoned to be our life, His obedience our obedience, His death our death, His burial our burial, and His resurrection our resurrection.

Luther writes, “Christ is fixed and cemented to me and abides in me. The life I now live, He lives in me. Indeed, Christ Himself is the life that I now live. In this way, therefore, Christ and I are one… This attachment to Him causes me to be liberated from the terror of the Law and of sin, pulled out of my own skin, and transferred into Christ and into His kingdom, which is a kingdom of grace, righteousness, peace, joy, life, salvation, and eternal glory. Since I am in Him, no evil can harm me… But faith must be taught correctly, namely, that by it you are so cemented to Christ that He and you are as one person, which cannot be separated but remains attached to Him forever and declares: ‘I am as Christ’. And Christ, in turn, says: ‘I am as that sinner who is attached to Me, and I to him. For by faith we are joined together into one flesh and one bone.’” (LW, vol. 26, p. 167, 168).

We now want to turn to our second question – what does it mean to be dead to sin? We know that we became dead to sin when through the waters of baptism we were joined to Christ’s death on the Cross, and His death to sin is reckoned as our own death to sin. But what does this mean? Why is this important? Why does the knowledge of this death to sin help us to not “continue in sin”? In verses 4 through 11, Paul now gives us three practical benefits of this knowledge to help us in our own battle with sin. First, he tells us in verse 4 that death was not an end in and of itself. Rather it was a passageway by which we have now entered into a new kind of life. He says that the purpose of our being joined to Christ’s death was so “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (6:4). This “newness of life” is taken from the Greek word “kainos”, meaning “a new kind of life”, that is, not a natural life, but a spiritual life. Just as we were “planted together” into Christ’s death, so we are now indivisibly joined to His resurrected life (cf. v. 5).

In a similar way Paul says to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Here again we see that Paul reckons himself as having died with Christ, but yet through death he says that he still lives. However, this new life (on the other side of death) is not solely Paul, but rather is a union of Paul and Christ, that is, “Christ liveth in me”. Elsewhere Paul writes, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3, 4). All of this is to say that through our union with Christ’s death (which occurred at baptism) we have now entered Christ’s resurrected life and do now walk in what Paul calls “the newness of life”.

Luther writes, “I am not speaking about my death and crucifixion as though I were not alive now. I am alive indeed, for I am made alive by the very death and crucifixion by which I die. That is, since I am liberated from the Law, sin, and death by grace and faith, I am truly alive. Therefore the crucifixion and death by which I am crucified and die to the Law, sin, death, and all evils is resurrection and life to me. For Christ crucifies the devil, kills death, damns sin, and binds the Law. As one who believes this, I am liberated from the Law, etc. Therefore the Law is deaf, bound, dead, and crucified to me; and I, in turn, am deaf, bound, dead, and crucified to it. Thus I live by this very death and crucifixion, that is, by this grace or liberty.” (LW, vol. 26, p. 165).

Now this “newness of life” in which we walk is none other than the kingdom of God, mentioned some 70 times in the New Testament. It is that spiritual kingdom of grace and life that we apprehend by faith in the trustworthy witness of the Word of God. It stands in contrast to this earthly kingdom of sin and death that we apprehend through our five natural senses. It is a heavenly kingdom of light ruled by the power of God, as opposed to this earthly kingdom of darkness ruled by the power of the devil. When we were baptized, God “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:15). We were “turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18). Christ “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4).

Imagine two fields in the country, with a road dividing them from one another. We’ll call the field on the left the kingdom of this world, ruled by a king named “sin”. The field on the right is the kingdom of God, the “newness of life”, ruled by a king named “grace”. The road is “death”, yea, even infinite and eternal death. By natural birth we were all born into the field on the left, the kingdom of this world. We are by nature sinners and do the will of our sovereign lord sin. Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). No matter what we do we cannot escape our master except by the way of death. But as death is infinite and we are finite, we in our own persons would be swallowed up everlastingly in death if we go that way. But Jesus has provided the way out for us. Through His perfect obedience to the Law and His substitutionary suffering and death on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the whole world, He has opened a way of access through death into the field on the right, that is, the kingdom of grace. Through baptism, we are joined to Christ so that His death becomes our death and His life becomes our life. We are thereby transferred out of the old field and into the new field. We are no longer in Adam, but are in Christ. We are no longer in the kingdom of Satan, but are in the kingdom of God. We are no longer under the rule of sin, law, and death, but are under the rule of grace, righteousness, and life. Paul writes, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).

Luther writes, “When by this faith I am crucified and die to the Law, then the Law loses all its jurisdiction over me, as it lost it over Christ. Thus, just as Christ Himself was crucified to the Law, sin, death, and the devil, so that they have no further jurisdiction over Him, so through faith I, having been crucified with Christ in spirit, am crucified to the Law, sin, etc., so that they have no further jurisdiction over me but are now crucified and dead to me.” (LW, vol. 26, p. 165).

So the first benefit of our being “dead to sin” is that we have now entered the kingdom of God and walk in “the newness of life”. Just as sin was a very real power working in our natural man to make us do its will, so grace is an even greater power working in our new man conforming us to the very image of Christ. How can we “continue in sin” who have such a power now working in us? But there is a second great benefit of our being “dead to sin” that Paul now describes for us in verses 6 and 7. He writes, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” The second reason why we cannot “continue in sin” is that we have been delivered from our sinful selves, our old man and our body of sin.

Now who is our “old man”? Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3, 6). The “old man” is that natural man that is born of his mother’s womb, flesh born of flesh. It is all of who we are as in Adam. It includes not only our sinful body, but also our sinful mind, emotions, and will. It is the whole natural man. The “old man in Adam” stands in contrast to that second-born man, that “new man in Christ”, who is born not of flesh, but of the Spirit. This “new man” is holy and righteous, being born of a holy and righteous God. As the old man is ruled by sin, so the new man is ruled by grace.

Johan Gerhard, the great orthodox Lutheran theologian of the 17th century, gives a wonderful analogy of the old man and the new man. He points out that when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, He was displaying Himself as a king, but of a kingdom that was not of this world. In preparation of this event, Jesus sent his disciples to get a certain donkey “upon whom never a man had sat”. Matthew tells us that the disciples actually brought back two donkeys to Jesus, both a colt and his mother. Contrary to what we would expect, Jesus chose to ride on the little colt, towing the mother ass behind, rather than the other way around. Gerhard says that he did this to teach us about the “new man” and the “old man”. The “new man” is the little colt “upon whom never a man has sat”, but that the Lord Himself rules and directs according to His own power and will. The “old man” is the mother ass, whom we have to drag around with us in this life, but is no longer who we are. We are the colt, belonging to a new kingdom, and being ruled and directed by Christ our King. We are no longer the old ass, but must be tethered to her and experience something of her ornery and stubborn nature while we are yet in this world.

Paul says that our old man is crucified in order that “the body of sin might be destroyed”. The “body of sin” refers to our natural body as the domain in which sin still operates. Elsewhere, Paul calls it our “mortal body” (Rom. 6:12); “the body of this death” (Rom. 7:24), and “our vile body” (Phil. 3:21). The body is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it is not yet redeemed and currently belongs to the kingdom of this world, the field on the left. On the other hand, it is that which keeps us in this world, and allows us the opportunity to be lights in a dark place for the sake of others. Paul said, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” (Phil. 1:23-24). In our passage Paul writes that our body has been “destroyed”. The Greek word for “destroyed” is “katargeo”, meaning “to be made of no effect”; “to be rendered null”; “to be removed from influence”. The idea is that when our “old man” was crucified with Christ (via the waters of baptism), then the body with its sins were removed from their influence and effect upon who we are as “new men in Christ”. The “body of sin” belongs to the field on the left, while our life is now hid with Christ in God in the field on the right. And Paul now adds the reason why the body of sin can not touch us. He says, “For he that is dead is freed from sin” (v. 7). The perfect tense indicates that we have been freed and that we remain freed from sin and all of its power. Why would we ever want to “continue in sin”?

Paul now gives us the third benefit that we receive from knowing that we are “dead to sin”. Having entered into the resurrected life of Christ and having been completely freed from our former sinful selves, we are now able to walk accordingly. He writes, “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:8-11). Paul says that if it is true that we are dead with Christ, then it shall necessarily follow that we do now live with Christ in an indivisible union. What is true of Him is true of us. Just as Christ has once and for all crossed the threshold of death and lives exclusively unto God, so we too are done forever with sin and death, and live with Christ in the kingdom of God. Sin and death have no more dominion over Christ, and thus no more dominion over us. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:24). We are to “walk worthy of (literally, “in balance with”) the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Eph. 4:1). Paul says “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Luther writes, “[Paul says], ‘There is a double life: my own, which is natural and animate; and an alien life, that is of Christ in me. So far as my animate life is concerned, I am dead and am now living an alien life. I am not living as Paul now, for Paul is dead.’ ‘Who, then, is living?’ ‘The Christian.’ Paul, living in himself, is utterly dead through the Law but living in Christ, or rather with Christ living in him, he lives an alien life. Christ is speaking, acting, and performing all of his actions in him; these belong not to the Paul-life, but to the Christ-life… He does not deny that he lives in the flesh, for he is doing all the works of the animate man. Besides, he is also using physical things – food, clothing, etc. – which is surely living in the flesh. But he says that this is not his life, and that he does not live according to these things. He does indeed use physical things; but he does not live by them, as the world lives on the basis of the flesh and according to the flesh, because it neither knows nor hopes for any life besides this physical life… For this [alien] life is in the heart through faith. There the flesh is extinguished; and there Christ rules with His Holy Spirit, who now sees, hears, speaks, works, suffers, and does simply everything in him, even though the flesh is still reluctant. In short, this life is not the life of the flesh, although it is a life in the flesh; but it is the life of Christ, the Son of God, whom the Christian possesses by faith… [This] inner man, who owes nothing to the Law but is free from it, is a living, righteous, and holy person – not of himself or in his own substance but in Christ, because he believes in Him.” (LW, vol. 26, pp. 169 – 172, 164).

So how do we “walk in the Spirit”, that is, walk as new men in Christ in the newness of life? The first thing Paul says is to know and affirm who you really are as a child of God. He writes, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11). The Greek word for “reckon” is “logitzomai”, meaning “consider”, “count” or “regard” something to be true. It is a word of faith, calling us to “consider it as so”, “count it as so”, because God has said it is so. The word “reckon” is a present imperative, meaning that we are to “continually reckon” that we are dead to the reign and rule of sin, and that we are indeed alive unto the reign and rule of God through our union with Jesus Christ our Lord which came about by means of holy baptism. This is actually the first imperative in the entire Epistle to the Romans. It is the first time Paul has told his readers that there is something that we ourselves are to do. And that thing we are to do is to believe the Word of God, reckon that what God has said about us is most certainly true.

It is well-known that before his conversion St. Augustine had lived a very worldly and sinful life, including living with a woman out of wedlock for a number of years. After his conversion Augustine repented of his sins, grew in his knowledge of the Word of God, and sought to bring forth true Christian fruit unto the glory of God. One day, however, he came across his former mistress on a busy street in Rome. When he turned and started to walk away quickly, she called after him, “Augustine, it’s me! it’s me!” Quickening his pace, he called back over his shoulder, “Yes, I know, but it’s no longer me!” Augustine had learned this truth of “reckoning himself to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. To the Galatians Paul writes, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” (Gal. 6:15, 16).

Knowing who we really are, in accordance with the Word of God, we are now to feed our new man in Christ and starve our old man in Adam. The food of the new man is the Word of God. Peter says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). He says, “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). Paul adds, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12:2). And just as we feed the new man so that he might increase, so we starve the old man so that he might decrease. Paul says, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Rom. 13:14). The relationship of the old man to the new man is like an exceedingly dirty light bulb. The dirty bulb itself is like the old man. It is hopelessly bespeckled and besmirched with sin and is not able to be reformed. It is what it is. But when we are baptized, believing the Word of God for the remission of our sins, then this old bulb is as it were placed in the Gospel socket containing the power of the Word of God. By this power, our filament is lit and light begins to shine through the dirty bulb, even if ever so dimly. The lit filament is the new man, and as he feeds upon the power source (the Word of God) he begins to progressively increase in brightness. His nature ever remains the same. He is light by new birth, and continues to be light. But through feeding upon the Word of God, the new man is progressively manifested through the dirty bulb to the world. Paul writes, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Phil. 2:15).

Finally, Paul implies that we are to keep our eyes upon Christ. Our true life is now “in Christ”. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). If we have “put on Christ” (as a garment so to speak), then we are “in Him”. And since we are “in Christ”, we are to apprehend all things “through Him”. We do this via the Word of God, which as the Voice of the Shepherd, is indivisibly united with Christ. It is His Word, revealing Him as He really is. Thus, through occupation with the Word, having our minds renewed to a true knowledge, we thereby abide in Christ and he lives His life through us. Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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” (Gal. 2:20). This “faith in the Son of God” is ever directed to the Word of God, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

We see a wonderful example of this in the account of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14. You will remember that Jesus had sent His disciples before Him out into a boat on the Sea of Galilee while He went to a mountain and prayed. The wind was quite contrary and the disciples were being tossed with the waves in the midst of the sea. In the middle of the night Jesus came to them walking on the water. The disciples were greatly terrified, thinking that they were seeing a spirit. Jesus told them to be of good cheer for it was He. Peter said that if it was He, then to command him to come to Him on the water. Jesus commanded Peter to come, and at this Word Peter got out of the boat and actually walked on top of the water towards Jesus. So long as Peter kept his eyes upon Christ, believing His Word, he could do that which was contrary to and above and beyond nature. He could do what Christ Himself could do. But then the text tells us that Peter “saw the wind boisterous”, that is, he began to look at himself and the waves around him. And as soon as he did that, he became afraid (lost faith), and began to sink. Looking at the Word of God coming from the mouth of Christ, Peter did the works of Christ. Looking at himself and the world around him, he became as any other natural man. So we, too, must keep our eyes on Christ by occupying with and believing His Word, and Christ will live His life through us. “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” (Gal. 2:20).

Let us now summarize what we have learned in this important passage in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. We have seen that this passage deals with the doctrine of sanctification, written as a response to those who would charge the Gospel with providing an excuse to “continue in sin”. While this charge might seem reasonable to depraved human reason, it is not true to the revealed Word of God. Paul has shown that one who is a true Christian cannot continue in sin because he has become dead to sin. This death to sin occurred when we received holy baptism. It was in that event that God joined us to Christ and thus to His death on the Cross of Calvary. By means of this death we have passed out of the kingdom of sin into the kingdom of grace. As sin reigned over us as old men in Adam, so grace now reigns over us as new men in Christ. God’s grace is a very real power that will not allow us to “continue in sin”. Furthermore, we are no longer who we once were. Our old man has been crucified with Christ and we have been freed from sin in every respect. Just as Christ died to sin once and for all, so we too have finished our relationship to it. Just as death hath no more dominion over Christ, so it has no more dominion over us. And just as Christ now liveth forever unto God, so we too now live unto God. We cannot continue in sin because we are those who live unto God. The life we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. We live by faith in Christ when we believe His Word, reckoning that what He has said is true is most certainly true. We are to believe what God has said about us, reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. As those who are alive in Christ, we are to feed the new man with the Word of God, and starve the old man, not making provision for its lusts. And we are to ever keep our eyes upon Christ as we apprehend all things through the trustworthy witness of His holy Word.

Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.