Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Colossians 2:8–10

You are not whole because you have filled yourself. If you believe in Christ, you are whole and filled in him, by him, because of him. So far, and as far as this life allows, you will never be whole as a result of your religious works and moral behavior.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Hebrews 11:4–6

It will always be impossible in this life to do anything in an altogether pure manner. However unfulfilled our efforts seem to us, they are accepted by and pleasing to God if they are done with faith in Christ.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Romans 3:28–31

We profess that the law ought to be kept. We also declare that it is kept because Christ has fulfilled it—we did not, nor can we. So we seek to please God by keeping his perfect law even though we keep it imperfectly.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Romans 7:14–19

Imagine the poor apostle, wanting to be godly but failing at the task. The things he set out to do, he was not able to perform. Conversely, the very things he wished to avoid were what he kept on doing.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Acts 15:7–11

When people hear the gospel and believe, God cleanses their hearts and gives them the Holy Spirit. If we add works and the keeping of the law to the simple requirement of faith in Christ, we test God by seeking to undo what he has accomplished through Christ Jesus.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Acts 2:36–39

Love and other obedience to the law would indeed be considered as righteousness—if we kept the law. Because people did not keep the law, the promise of grace was given.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Matthew 5:17–20

Take note of this sentence: “For the law does not justify as long as it can accuse us.” The purpose of the law is to teach people to live as God wills and, when they deviate, to accuse them of breaking the law.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Luke 11:39–44

What good is it to go to church on Sundays, bring an offering, be an usher, and serve on a committee, if the doing of these things is the whole of one’s religion? All of these things and more can be done without any faith in God.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Luke 7:44–50

Faith in Christ freely obtains forgiveness of sins and delivers a person from sin and death. The result is love and worship. Faith in one’s religious works and moral excellence, however, is a deadly trap.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 1 John 4:15–19

The law is kept in this way: first, God loves us. Then, while we are still ignorant of his love, our disobedience to God begins to unsettle and even frighten the conscience.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Matthew 15:17–20

People cannot keep the law of God as long as they have bad hearts—while they operate in their original, sinful nature. They may undertake to practice the law but these will only be lifeless, cold actions.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Isaiah 25:6–9

Why did the Father send his Son to earth? He did this so that humanity would be redeemed. In other words, Jesus, the long-awaited Savior, came to save us from sin and death...

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Galatians 3:10–14

“Let me know how that works out for you,” some friends of mine remark whenever people say they are going to do something considered unlikely or even impossible. It is a sarcastic reply...

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Jeremiah 31:31–33

Yes! We ought to keep the commandments. Our hearts urge us to do so, as do the Scriptures. The law is written upon our hearts and should be lived out. As Christians, we ought to be doing a much better job of keeping the law...

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Matthew 7:24–27

Justification is no idle dream among Christians. The Church stands upon the promise of God in Christ Jesus. Otherwise, we have built the Church on sand. But the Church has built its house on the Rock.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Galatians 5:1–6

Faith happens when the heart is prompted by the Holy Spirit to believe that the promise of God is true. By faith, we take hold of the gospel with confident hope, becoming certain that Jesus died for the sin of the world.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Romans 5:1–5

The idea that faith only comes into existence when it is formed by love is contrary to Scripture. Faith comes first, as a free gift of God. Only then do virtues like love begin to develop.

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Colossians 2:11–14

The bill is overdue. Ignoring it does not help a bit. It looms over you and you know that your service is about to be cut off. In the same way, our sin has put us in debt.


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