From time to time there erupts on the Internet some pretty heated conversations over the place and propriety of small groups in Lutheran congregations. Some would advocate an “all or nothing” approach to the issue, while others, including me, think there is a more nuanced approach that is more helpful. Some take the approach that either “small group ministry” is essential to the growth and well being of a congregation, or the position that under no circumstances can small groups ever be used appropriately in Lutheran congregations. When discussing these issues it is easy to let emotions get the best of better judgment when expressing points of view. I’ve seen this in others. I’ve seen this in myself. I think it is therefore important for us to understand precisely what we are talking about and lay out cautions, concerns and opportunities when it comes to the use of small group studies in Lutheran congregations.

Cautions

In the history of the Lutheran Church there arose a movement known as “Pietism,” which was a reaction against some legitimately bad practices that had arisen in the Lutheran Church by the late 17th century, but…as is usually, no make that, “always,” the case: Pietism was an over-reaction. Pietism wanted there to be a more personal understanding of the impact of salvation in our life and as a result, it did not work at recapturing a strong vibrant sense of the centrality of the Word and Sacrament for our assurance of God’s grace and mercy, but rather turned inward, on subjective emotional experiences. A key part of the Pietistic movement was creating little “conventicles” or “churches within the church.” What were these? These were small groups of people, usually led by laity, who set themselves up over against the local pastor and congregation and emphasized their meetings and their emotional prayers and singing of amazingly bad hymns, striving for emotional encounters with God’s grace. They ended up actually despising the Lord’s appointed means of grace and the office of the holy ministry. Today the legacy of this kind of thinking is seen when small groups in congregations become more important than the gathering of God’s people around the Word and Sacraments and when the “what does this mean to you?” approach to God’s Word takes a higher priority than a careful study of God’s Word under the careful supervision and leadership of the ordained pastor in the congregation. The “churches within the church” were set up to oppose the local congregation’s ministry and even to offer an alternative spiritual life and worship experience, as opposed to the Sunday morning Divine Service which came to be held in contempt and treated with disdain.

Concerns

The challenge with the use of small groups in Lutheran congregations today is found precisely in the fact that, sadly, small group “ministry” in some Lutheran congregations and movements, particularly those movements associated with the Church Growth Movement, have ended up replicating the same errors experienced in the history of the Lutheran Church during the age of Pietism. Challenges arise when small groups in a local congregation are lead by well meaning but unprepared laity who are allowed simply to pick and choose whatever materials they want to use in their small group. When a small group is not about studying God’s Word in the context of an orthodox, confessionally faithful curriculum, under the close, personal supervision of the parish pastor, it sets up a potentially very dangerous situation whereby small groups can spin off into a whole host of bad theology and bad practices. The focus of small groups can be turned toward subjective, emotional encounters and eyes can be taken off of Christ and His Word and put rather on the emotional experiences of small group members. When materials are used by small groups that come from non-Lutheran sources the concerns are only heightened. When small groups are allowed to take a place in the life of God’s people that only the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament must have, that is a deep concern. A significant concern, rightly raised, arises primarily with small groups that are not structured around study of God’s Word, but rather are structured more to be social experiences in the congregation that only lightly touch on some aspect of God’s Word. When a small group drifts free from a focused study around God’s Word there arises even more potential for abuses of small groups. When small groups are taught by a layman, that is, a layman is entrusted with the task of actually teaching the material, rather than leading the group through a pre-defined curriculum and discussion guide, there is where the problems come. There have been cases, unfortunately, where these kinds of unstructured small groups in Lutheran congregations have led to factionalism and very bad theology. For instance, an intrusion of the charismatic movement and other such false doctrine and practice. It is particularly harmful, wrong and dangerous when a Lutheran pastor simply permits a small group to be formed in his congregation and allows it to use whatever material it wants to use as the basis for their small group experience.  Another major concern arises when small groups are put forward in our congregations as the “be all and end all” of a congregation’s ministry. We can never allow ourselves to think that small groups are better than than the fellowship we have together, in and round and through, the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments, which goes on in the Divine Service. Everything in a Lutheran congregation must flow from, and in return, flow back into, our regular gathering together around Word and Sacrament, where the one who hold the office of the ministry exercises that office publically in our midst through preaching and teaching the Word, and administering the Sacraments [their is no difference!] from the pulpit and from the altar.

Opportunities

In reaction to the cautions and concerns, here only briefly summarized, there are some today who believe that there should never be any small groups used in a Lutheran congregation. On the other hand, there are many who, like me, believe that an effective small group program can be used in a faithful Lutheran congregations, but it does require careful pastoral care and diligent teaching and supervision, and the use of orthodox, confessionally Lutheran materials in the small groups. What would this look like in a Lutheran congregation? Here is but one scenario: A pastor organizes a program of study of a book of the Bible, or organizes a comprehensive walk through a doctrinal topic, or series of topics, or the Lutheran Confessions. He identifies lay leaders in his congregation who can be entrusted with teaching responsibilities and he works closely with these men to train them and help them understand the content, the goals, the purpose and the objective of the curriculum that will be put into place in the congregation. The program meets in a large group format once a week, or whenever is deemed most appropriate. The pastor leads the large group session, teaching the major content of the week’s lesson. Laity then meet in small groups between sessions to go over the material and to explore and study the given week’s curriculum, with carefully prepared study questions and discussion guides. They do so in these groups with a lay leader appointed and taught carefully by the pastor. I see this as a helpful and workable way of using small groups in a Lutheran congregation. Now, having said this, I want to make it clear that I do not believe there is any essential need for small group Bible studies. I reject the idea that studying the Scriptures in a “small group” is somehow “better” in, any meaningful theological sense, than a large Bible study in the congregation.

Final Thoughts and Observations

Now, I recognize that there are those who still, for the sake of conscience, believe that there can never be, nor should ever be, any kind of small group program in a Lutheran congregation, for the reasons stated above. I do not agree with this position. I think there can be a responsible use of small groups in a congregation. My major concern is how much, and to what extent, the pastor serves as the chief teacher and how well he trains the lay small group facilitators that may be used, along with what materials are being used. Frankly, there would be no need for any “Bible classes” to begin were we to return to a strong doctrinal and exegetical sermon that lasts 45 minutes or more in our congregations, as was the norm throughout the entire history of the Christian Church, and particularly the Lutheran Church, until only the last thirty or forty years. Now I’ve seen way too many pastors preaching ten minute sermons in order to cram the service of the Lord’s Supper into a sixty minute window of time. How about that for a radical proposal?

Professor John Pless forwarded this information to me. I encourage you to consider attending this conference, being held in July. More details here. Remember that Dr. C.F.W. Walther said that Wilhelm Löhe is rightly considered to be the father of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

To this day, the painting that stands over the altar at the St. Peter and Paul Church in Weimar, Germany, glows with a radiance that takes the viewer’s breath away. It is the most remarkable example of the uniquely Lutheran use of altar paintings to confess the Gospel rediscovery in the Sixteenth Century Reformation. Below the painting you will find an explanation, a guided-tour of the painting. Note: For a very large version of this painting, click on the image.

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” This is certainly true of the centre panel of the altar painting in the church of Sts Peters and Paul, Weimar, Germany. It was begun by Lucas Cranach (1472-1553) and was completed by his son, also of the same name, in 1555. (To distinguish them, they are called Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger.)

The heart of the 16^th century Reformation and indeed of the Christian faith, is the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ. This is how Luther expresses it in part 2 of the Smalcald Articles.

“The first and chief article is this, that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, “was put to death for our trespasses and raised again for our justification” (Rom 4:25). He alone is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “God has laid upon him the iniquities of us all” (Isa.53:6). Moreover, “all have sinned,” and “they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by his blood” (Rom. 3:23-25).

Inasmuch as this must be believed and cannot be obtained or apprehended by any work, law, or merit, it is clear and certain that such faith alone justifies us, as St Paul says in Romans 3, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law” (Rom. 3:28), and again, “that he [God] himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).

If the doctrine of justification is to be properly taught, law and gospel must be properly distinguished. The Formula of Concord of 1577 says (Article 5),

“We must … observe this distinction with particular diligence lest we confuse the two doctrines and change the Gospel into law. This would darken the merit of Christ and rob disturbed consciences of the comfort which they would otherwise have in the holy Gospel …”

That Lucas Cranach clearly understood the central teaching of the Lutheran reformation and the proper distinction between Law and Gospel is illustrated by his altar painting at Weimar.

In the centre background, Moses is shown teaching the ten commandments to the Old Testament prophets. They are standing on a circle of barren path, along with a figure representative of all human beings who are under the law’s condemnation. Man is shown here being chased into the fires of hell by death (pictured as a skeleton holding a spear) and the devil (in the form of a monster wielding a club). The prophets taught, as did Moses, “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them” (Deut. 27:26 ESV, compare Jer. 11:13). Yet it’s not only our actual sins that condemn us, but also the prior sin that we inherit from our parents (original sin). To quote the Smalcald Articles once again,

“Here we must confess what St Paul says in Rom. 5:12, namely, that sin had its origin in one man, Adam, through whose disobedience all men were made sinners and became subject to death and the devil. … The fruits of this sin are all the subsequent evil deeds which are forbidden in the Ten Commandments …”

The good news is that God in mercy and compassion saves all who put their trust in His Son. When the people of Israel in the wilderness sinned and were bitten by snakes, God provided a way of escape that prefigured His Son’s death on a cross. All the Israelites had to do to be saved was look at the snake mounted on a pole (Num. 21:4-9). In Cranach’s painting, this is shown in the background on the painting’s left.

Directly in front, Martin Luther is standing with open Bible in hand. His feet and hands are positioned like those of Moses. His message, however, is one of gospel, not law. On his face is a look of steadfastness and serene confidence. He stands on lush grass in which flowers grow, unlike the bare, stony ground on which Moses stands. Of three passages written in German on the open Bible, the third one reads, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so also must the Son of man be lifted up, so that all [who believe] in [him may have eternal life]” (Jn 3:14).

Dominating the painting is Christ on a cross. The amazing message of the Gospel is that by his death, Christ takes away the world’s sin. The message written in Latin on the transparent banner held by the lamb in the centre foreground declares that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). His outstretched arms and generous loincloth are also reminders that He is the world’s Saviour. This was John the Baptist’s message, and John is shown standing underneath the crucified Christ on His left side. With right hand pointing up at Christ on the cross and left hand pointing at the lamb, John is shown proclaiming the meaning of Jesus’ death to Lucas Cranach, the painter. Cranach represents all who believe. A stream of blood from Christ’s pierced side splashes on to this head. It is as the first verse on Luther’s Bible says, “The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). Therefore like Luther, Cranach also stands confidently.

There is another verse on the open Bible, to which Luther’s finger points directly. It reads, “Therefore let us approach the seat of grace with joyousness, so that we may receive mercy within and find grace in the time when help is needed” (Heb. 4:16). Such approach is possible because Jesus is our victorious high priest. Having paid for sin, He has defeated death and the devil and now lives to intercede for us. Jesus is shown on the painting’s right as the risen One, youthful and full of life, standing on death and the devil, with the staff of his victory flag pushed in the monster’s throat. His gold-edged cloak flows toward the lamb’s banner and the cross. As a result it’s actually both banner and cloak that bear the words, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

“Believe in God; believe also in me,” the Lord says (Jn 14:1). From this painting His eyes meet ours, inviting us to believe in Him. The other set of eyes that meet ours belong to Cranach, the painter. His feet face in the direction of Christ. But he has turned from his adoration of Christ to look at us also, inviting us to believe and be saved along with him.

Article 4 of the Augsburg Confession expresses the heart of Lutheran teaching this way:

“[W]e receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us.”

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). This, in summary, is the message of the Lutheran reformation and of its foremost artists, Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Younger.

–Pastor David Buck

Joanne Langston sent in this comment to the post on crucifixes and the Lutheran Church. Again, if anyone tells you that “Lutherans don’t use crucifixes” you can just hand them these photos. Here is what Joanna said: “If your readers would really like to see what Lutherans did in the way of religious art when they built a large parish church from scratch (ca. 1608) may I suggest this link?Raymond Faure has taken an incredibly large number of very good photographs of the Harz area of central Germany. This link will take you to his Wolfenbüttel page, and in a column down the left side you see selections. BMV is for Beatae Mariae Virginis, the purposefully Lutheran-built Lutheran church is chock full of art works and crucifixes from the German Renaissance that somehow did not get destroyed in the 30 years war, the 7 years war, the Napoleonic wars, or WWII. It’s the best example of this in Germany I’ve seen, to date.”

I did a bit more poking around on Google and found more photos, larger and more detailed, photos of the church, taken by a tourist visiting Blessed Virgin Mary. Here is the link to more detailed photos of the interior.

Oh, by the way, the name of this Lutheran Church is Blessed Virgin Mary and was built by Lutherans, for Lutherans, in the golden era of Lutheran Orthodoxy.

And lest anyone doubt that this actually is a Lutheran Church, here is a detailed photo of part of the ornate pulpit. Note the theme of Law and Gospel [Moses on the left; Christ on the right], and the carved relief of the Resurrection and the Ascension, with the motto of the Reformation inscribed over the top of it Verbum Dei Manet in Aeternum.

A great sermon for Reformation Day, by Pastor Larry Peters, preached on October 31, 2010

Not so long ago I had a conversation with a Christian who wondered about those Lutherans, especially their educational programs.  I told him about us and related about Sunday school and Bible study, but he did not seem interested.  Then I talked about catechism class and confirmation and it was catechism class that caught his interest.  He saw it as an indoctrination (negative idea) in which we told kids the answers when we should have been equipping them to think for themselves and choose their own answers to life’s big questions.  I responded that catechism was indeed indoctrination – not to the teachings of men but the embrace of God’s Word and the teaching that alone imparts forgiveness, life and salvation.

This man saw the truth of God’s Word as many truths, taught by many different denominations, and the Christian’s purpose to find the version of truth that fits you.  We all find temptation to see matters of faith as less about truth than about interpretation – as if God’s Word were sufficiently vague to make it impossible to know whose take on that Word is genuine and true.  We all find certain attraction that we get to decide what Scripture says and what is truth.

I am here today to tell you that this is baloney.  The different ways people read God’s Word are not merely variations on a theme but radically different Gospels.  The Reformation of Luther is not about competing interpretations but about the one Gospel which is true and others which are false.  If you read St. Paul’s letters, you hear him warn the people against departing from the truth that He delivered to them.  He was not offering one version of the truth but the only truth that saves — the truth of Jesus Christ. We face exactly the same challenge today.

Christianity is not the domain of differing but equally true ideas about God.  Christianity is not some umbrella religion of many different truths that all claim to be right.  Christianity is about the one, true Gospel that has the power to forgive, save, and give eternal life.  The other gospels are false gospels that are powerless to do anything for you.  Luther’s battle was not with a pope or a council but with a false gospel which had robbed the Church of the Word that does what it says, delivers what it promises, and bestows what it speaks.

Lutheran identity is not rooted in an opinion of a man named Luther but in the rediscovery of this one true Gospel at a time when it had long been hidden and distorted by false teachings that deprived it of its power to do what that Gospel promises to do – to forgive our sins, redeem us from death, and impart to us eternal salvation.  Lutherans do not proclaim a Lutheran Gospel but the one, true, unchanging Gospel that St. Paul insists is the only truth at all.  What is this truth?  The article on which the Church stands or falls is justification – how are we saved.

We are saved by grace as the free gift of God in Christ Jesus and not by our works.  The truth is that much of what you hear on TV and the popular books hawked as Christian today is nothing less than a religion of works.  If you are good enough, you get happiness, health, and wealth today and if you are not, you have to fix what is wrong so that God can give you these things.  This is not the Gospel of the cross, of sin and forgiveness, of death and life.

We are saved through faith – not a faith which is the fruit of our reason or intellect or the warm fuzzy of our feelings but the faith that only the Holy Spirit can plant in us, working through the Word and Sacraments, so that we might grasp hold of the cross and trust in Jesus Christ alone.  This faith is not about your decision but about God’s declaration, not about knowledge or understanding but about trust.

We are saved in Christ – not as one of many messengers whom God has sent whose names may be Moroni or Mohammed but as the one and only Son of God, incarnate by the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, who suffered as the innocent for the guilty, died a death that was ours to die and rose to impart to us the life none of us could accomplish for ourselves.  Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus – not a teacher or mentor or role model but the Savior whom the prophets promised, who kept the commandments for us, and who alone has the power to cloth us in righteousness and holiness.  Without this Jesus, the whole Christian religion falls apart and there is nothing left to hold on to or hope in.

It is not that we Lutherans have an exclusive claim to this truth – we do not.  But apart from this exclusive truth, there are no Christians.  We gladly affirm those who came before us and those who may not bear the name Lutheran but who confess this saving truth.  Yet we also warn that apart from this saving truth, there is no truth that saves, no hope for life over death, and no good but the fleeting pleasure of the moment.
Lutherans confess that this Gospel is the message of Scripture and no other.  It is this message that is confessed from Genesis to Revelation.  It is this Gospel of Jesus Christ, this Gospel of the cross and empty tomb, and this Gospel of forgiveness, life and salvation that is the one message of the Bible.  Scripture cradles the Christ of the manger and cross and empty tomb and without Him its words speak nothing to us.

This is the truth that saves – it is not a consolation for the bad things you have to endure in this life but the hope that sustains you today because by baptism and faith you confess the eternal tomorrow Jesus prepare for you. This is the Word that sets us free from sin, free from fear, and free from the impossible task of being good enough to fix what is wrong with you.

What is the Lutheran difference?  In reality, there is none.  In our confessions, Lutherans hold in trust the one, true, saving Gospel which is the promise for all but which is always under assault.  We are not Lutherans to be different but Lutherans to be faithful to this one saving Gospel.  We celebrate the Reformation history because this Gospel could not be silenced, because of the faithful who confessed before the world the faithful truth that still sets us free.  We call ourselves Lutheran only because of this heritage of faithfulness and we pledge to do nothing less than faithfully raise up this Gospel and this Christ in our own time.
In our Lutheran Confessions is not our interpretation of the Bible but embodied for all the one truth that belongs to all in Christ.  This is the ecumenical truth that alone reforms and unites and saves.  We exist as Lutherans for the sake of this one authentic truth in Jesus Christ, to proclaim it to the world and to live it out within the community of God’s Word and sacraments.  The truth that endures forever!
Robert Capon wrote of this truth in vivid terms in his book From Noon to Three: “The reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellarful of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two hundred proof grace — of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly.  The word of the gospel — after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps — suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started…Grace has to be drunk straight boys: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.”

God help us to stand for this truth today with courage and confidence, to drink deeply of his sweet grace, not to dilute it in any way, nor to allow it ever again to be cast aside in favor of something which is powerless to reach into the abyss of our sin and death with forgiveness and life.  This is what the Reformation is about.  Then and now.  Amen.

Francis Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics is such a treasure of solid, doctrinal wisdom. Here’s a great comment he makes about those who would pit Christian “experience” against Scripture.

“It is sheer delusion to make the Christian “experience” take the place of Scripture. It is a delusion, because without Scripture there can be no Christian experience. Needless to say, there is a Christian experience. Without the personal Christian experience there can be no Christianity. Everyone who is a Christian has experienced, and daily experiences, both sin and grace. He knows and realizes that on account of his sin he is subject to eternal damnation. And he knows and realizes that on account of Christ’s satisfactio vicaria his sins are forgiven. But this twofold experience of the Christian is wrought solely through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, of the Law and of the Gospel—certainly not through his experience. In order to create this experience of repentance and of the forgiveness of sins, Christ commands that repentance (μετάνοιαν) and remission of sins (ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν) be preached in His name among all nations (Luke 24:46 f.), and Paul, by Christ’s command, proclaimed to Jews and Gentiles “that they should repent and turn to God” (μετανοεῖν καἰ ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ τὸν θεόν, Acts 26:20). This Word, the Word of the Law and the Word of the Gospel, the Church has in the recorded Word of the Apostles, and when the Church preaches this Word, which is God’s own Word and pronounces God’s own verdict in re “sin” and “forgiveness of sins,” men learn to know what repentance (contritio) and forgiveness of sins (remissio peccatorum sire fides in Christum) is. The ideas of sin and salvation which the “grandfather” and the “father” of the Ego theology of the 19th century, Schleiermacher and Hofmann, evolved out of their own heart will never cause a man to experience contritio and fides, fides in Christum crucifixum. As for Schleiermacher, it is quite generally admitted that his Reformed-pantheistic theology ignores the concept of sin completely. And when Hofmann, his faith consciousness, which guided by operates “independently” of Scripture, denies original sin, he, too, is a poor preacher of repentance. Furthermore, both Schleiermacher and Hofmann, drawing upon their Ego, deny the satisfactio vicaria. And such teaching and preaching certainly cannot produce the experience of fides, of faith in the Savior crucified for us.

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In response to my blog post about the Luther Rose, a pastor notified me that a lady in his congregation painted a beautiful interpretation of the Luther Rose. I think you will agree with me that this is a gorgeous rendition. You can purchase copies of it, in several formats, by following this link.

Luther’s seal, or as it is sometimes called, Luther’s rose, is the most widely known symbol of Lutheranism. It’s origins are interesting. Luther was  invited to create a personal symbol to summarize his faith in the 1520, as his writings became increasingly popular, there was a desire on the part of the Wittenberg printers somehow to try to indicate what was an authorized publication of Luther’s works, and so they asked Luther to tell them what he would like to have as his personal mark on his published works. I put a copy of the first known printed version of the seal, further down in this post.

It was very common in Luther’s Day for public servants, theologians, political rulers, and others of some public note, to have a personal seal. In 1530, Prince John Frederick wanted to give Luther a gift of a signet ring, as an expression of his appreciation, love and respect for Dr. Luther. The gift was personally presented to Luther, by Prince John, at the Coburg Castle on September 14, Holy Cross Day, when the Prince stopped at Coburg while travelling back from the meeting in Augsburg. The Coburg Fortress was the southernmost fortified property in what was then Electoral Saxony.  Luther could not attend the Diet of Augsburg, but had to remain behind in Coburg, since he was still considered by the Emperor, Charles V, to be a public criminal, not to mention the fact that he was also considered a heretic and excommunicated by the Roman Church.  Lazarus Spengler, of Nürnberg, [see note below about Spengler], apparently helped to have the ring prepared, he asked Luther for an explanation of the seal. Luther offered both an explanation and also an indication of the colors it should contain. This was somewhat unusual, for full color seals were very rare, in these early years of printing. Any four-color image in a book would have to be provided by hand. The ring was a thank you from John Frederick to Luther, in return for Luther having dedicated his translation of the Book of Daniel, to the Prince. Johann Frederick was, in my opinion, the greatest lay-hero of the Lutheran Reformation. You can read more about him here.

The image in this post is a colorized version of the original version of the Luther seal, as it first appeared in print, originally in black and white (see image below). It is one of the best presentations I’ve seen of it, in color. And this is why I say this. Generally, in color versions of the seal, the blue is too dark and deep. Luther’s concept was that the blue stands for a blue sky. This is more accurate. The image was found on Wikipedia and is in the public domain. I removed the Luther initials “M” and “L” which appeared on it when it was first printed. If you click on the image, you will be taken to the original size of the graphic. As I said, this image is in the public domain and you can use it as you wish. I thought I’d mention this image and talk a bit about this famous symbol for Lutheranism. The other symbol for Lutheranism, is the stylized letters of the motto Verbum Domini manet in aeternum, [The word of the Lord endures forever], which I’ll describe and explain in a future post.

Here is how Luther explained his seal, when he was asked about it by the man who was preparing the ring for him, at Prince John’s request:

“Grace and peace from the Lord. As you desire to know whether my painted seal, which you sent to me, has hit the mark, I shall answer most amiably and tell you my original thoughts and reason about why my seal is a symbol of my theology. The first should be a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us. ‘For one who believes from the heart will be justified’ (Rom. 10:10). Although it is indeed a black cross, which mortifies and which should also cause pain, it leaves the heart in its natural color. It does not corrupt nature, that is, it does not kill but keeps alive. ‘The just shall live by faith’ (Rom. 1:17) but by faith in the crucified. Such a heart should stand in the middle of a white rose, to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace. In other words, it places the believer into a white, joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives (John 14:27). That is why the rose should be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and the angels (cf. Matthew 28:3; John 20:12). Such a rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that such joy in spirit and faith is a beginning of the heavenly future joy, which begins already, but is grasped in hope, not yet revealed. And around this field is a golden ring, symbolizing that such blessedness in Heaven lasts forever and has no end. Such blessedness is exquisite, beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable, most precious and best metal. This is my compendium theoligae [summary of theology]. I have wanted to show it to you in good friendship, hoping for your appreciation. May Christ, our beloved Lord, be with your spirit until the life hereafter. Amen.

A note on the text of this letter:

Martin Luther, Letter to Lazarus Spengler, July 8, 1530, as included in the translation by Amy Marga from “Luthers Siegel: Eine elementare Deutung seiner Theologie,” in Luther 67 (1996):66–87. Translation printed in Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. XIV, Num. 4, Winter 2000, pg. 409-410. The text used for this translation is from Johannes Schilling, Briefe, Auswah, Ubersetzung und Erlauterungen in Vol. 6 of Ausgewaehlte Schriften/MartinLuther. The text of Luther’s letter is also found in the Weimar edition of Luther’s Works, Briefe Vol. 5:444f and in English translation in Luther’s Works: American Edition, Vol. 49:356-359).

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Lutherans did not throw out the observance of special days and commemorations and festivals in honor of Christian saints, rather, we reformed these observances to get rid of the superstitious false doctrine of Roman Catholicism. In a sermon on Matthew 22:1-14, Martin Luther explains beautifully how we are to honor and thank God for the saints, properly:

“These words beautifully picture to us and teach how we should make use of the life of the saints; namely, to introduce examples by which the doctrine of the Gospel may be confirmed, so that we may the better, by the aid of such examples and lives, meditate upon Christ, and be nourished by and feast upon him as upon fatted-calfs and well fed oxen. This is the reason he calls them fatted-calfs. Take an example: Paul teaches in Rom. 3, 23f. how the bride is full of sin and must be sprinkled by the blood of Christ alone, or she will continue unclean, that is, she must only believe that the blood of Christ was shed for her sins, and there is no other salvation possible. Then he beautifully introduces the example of Abraham and confirms the doctrine of faith by the faith and life of Abraham, and says, 4, 3: “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.” That is a true ox, it is properly slain, it nourishes us, so that we become grounded and strengthened in our faith by the example and faith of Abraham. Again, soon after Paul lays before us a fine fatted-calf, when he cites David the Prophet of God and proves from him, that God does not justify us by virtue of our works, but by faith, when he says, Rom. 4, 6-8: “Even as David also pronounces blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckons righteousness apart from works,” saying in Ps. 32, 1-2: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin.” Behold, that fattens and nourishes in the true sense, when we use the example and doctrine of pious saints to confirm our own doctrine and faith. And this is the true honor that we can give to the saints.”

Source: The Sermons of Martin Luther, Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI, 1983), V:227-235.

It is not we who call ourselves Lutherans. Rather, our adversaries call us that. We allow this to the extent that this title is an indication of the consensus that our churches have with the orthodox and catholic doctrine that Luther set forth from Holy Writ. Therefore we allow ourselves to be named after Luther, not as the inventor of a new faith but as the asserter of the old faith and the cleanser of the church from the stains of Papist dogmas. Consequently, we also do not reject the names “Christian” and “catholic,” nor do we render ourselves unworthy of them by the approval of any heretical dogma, as did the Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, etc. Rather, we are called “Christians” from Christ as the only Author and Teacher of our faith. We are called “catholics” from our consensus with the catholic faith. We are called “Lutherans” from Luther as the asserter and defender of that faith, but especially as the reformer whom God raised up.

—Johann Gerhard, On the Church (Theological Commonplace XXV), § 156.

HT: Chris, at Lutheran Kantor

I’m asked for a copy of this article every year, and so am happy again to provide it. Please feel free to copy and share it, but I would ask that it not be changed. Thanks.

Fifteen Minutes that Changed the World Forever
By Rev. Paul T. McCain

Several years ago, I attended a conference on the doctrine of justification in Wittenberg, Germany. There were pastors, presidents and bishops from Lutheran churches throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltics, Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, and various countries in the land of the former Soviet Union. These servants of Christ know what it means to be distinctly Lutheran, often under extremely difficult and challenging circumstances. In many cases, they are walking through fiery trials suffering various forms of persecution for their commitment to Christ and His Word. It was humbling to be with them and discuss the chief article of the faith.

It was also quite a thrill to spend four days in Wittenberg and walk where Luther walked. On the last day of the conference I decided to time how long it would have taken Martin Luther to walk from the door of his Augustinian monastery to the Castle Church to post the ninety-five theses. Another LCMS pastor attending the conference, Bob Zagore, came with me and he counted the steps. Bob counted 2,000 steps. I counted fifteen minutes.

As Luther left his monastery on October 31, 1517, turned left, and walked to the Castle Church on the west side of town, I doubt he had any idea just what he was setting motion. Four years later, Pope Leo’s representative, Aleander reported, “All of Germany is an uproar! Ninety-percent of the people are shouting, “Luther!” and the other ten percent—if they don’t care about Luther—at least have “Death to the Roman court!” as their slogan.” (Martin Brecht, Martin Luther The Road to Reformation, Fortress Press: 1:439).

Father Martin, parish pastor, was outraged by the Roman system of indulgences and what it was doing to the precious souls he cared for at the city church of St. Mary as confessor and preacher. He was deeply angered when one after another member of his congregation told him about the indulgence that they had walked all day to buy from John Tetzel in the little town of Jütebog, just over the border of Electoral Saxony. They thought they had assurance of grace and comfort, for themselves, or for loved ones who had died. They clung to their indulgence receipt, instead of the crucified Lord. They believed that with their act of penance and contribution to the construction of St. Peter’s in Rome, God would smile on them and make things easier for them after their death.

Luther could not remain silent. And so he spoke, and wrote, and preached, and taught, and debated. He posted his theses and he mailed a copy of them on the same day to the Archbishop of Mainz, protesting the indulgences that were being sold within his diocese. In so doing, Luther set an axe at the root of the Papal tree. Enormous sources of revenue were at stake. Papal and imperial politics were involved beyond what Luther fully realized. Luther said after the controversy was under way:

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I week or so ago, I mentioned how much we need the bold witness and confession of our brothers in Africa. I recently was reminded of this statement issued by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya last November when the Church of Sweden consecrated a lesbian to be a bishop.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN KENYA ON THE CHURCH APOSTATE

This is the statement of the executive committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya that met on the 12th November 2009, on the Apostasy of the church of Sweden to consecrate not just a woman to the office of bishop but a lesbian bishop on the 8th November 2009 in Uppsala cathedral.

We, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, are watching with shock, dismay and disappointment, the news about these recent developments on what we would call “ the mega” Church bodies in the world are up to, when they work so hard and tirelessly to lead the world into religiousless society (leave alone Christianity)

In addition to our statement on what took place in the USA when ELCA in its Church wide Assembly held on 21 August 2009, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, resolved officially to open the door of the office of the public ministry to those who are in “committed” same gender sexual relations, we further state that it beats our logics and saddens us very much that the church of Sweden, which at the reformation was the pillar of Biblical Reformation within Christendom has now decided to go apostate by consecretating a lesbian woman as bishop on the 8th November 2009 and indeed women in the office of the Ministry over and above its earlier decision to allow same sex partners to hold the Sacred office of Word and Sacrament.

We therefore again reiterate as we did in our statement condemning the decision of ELCA issued on the 25th of September 2009;

1. that we condemn in the strongest terms possible this unfortunate and anti-scriptural development in a church body that bears the name of the great reformer, Dr. Martin Luther;

2. that these Church Bodies have rejected the faith of Christendom as have been confessed all along starting with the Apostles and the fathers as is also confessed today in the three ecumenical creeds.

3. that these church bodies have out rightly rejected the Authority of the Scriptures as the Word of God 4. to the Lutherans, Dr. Martin Luther brought the Church from being under the authority of man and speculations of human

philosophies to be under the authority of the Scriptures. 5. that we want to remind those Lutheran Churches and others who ordain women into office of the Word and Sacrament that these

unfortunate practice is a novelty that just started some fifty year ago and indeed an epicenter of spiritual lesbianism in the Church

today. 6. that we condemn sexual perversion in all its manifestations; 7. that same sex marital union is not only contrary to God’s will as clearly expressed in the Holy Scripture, but also repugnant to the

natural created social order; 8. that God’s plan and purpose of marriage is fulfilled only in heterosexual (one man – one woman) life long commitment; 9. that this act by the Church of Sweden constitutes a loveless and callous disregard of the spiritual condition of those caught in

homosexual bondage; and 10. that, most seriously of all, it is nothing less than a denial of the transformative power of the love we know in our Savior Jesus Christ,

Who seeks all sinners in order to restore them to communion with the Father through the ministrations of His Holy Spirit in Word and sacrament.

Therefore, we must confess the Word of God and be faithful to it. In the name of our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon the Church of Sweden to repent of its apostasy from the truth. We feel compassion for those among us who are caught in homosexual bondage and want them to know the transforming power of God’s forgiveness and love. Thus we hereby dedicate ourselves anew into the service of Him Who came to serve us sinners, including those caught in homosexual bondage, and Who by the power of His cross and resurrection creates in us a new will to please Him in patterns of living that are chaste and pure. In saying these things, we are standing with our fellow redeemed in the great consensus of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, particularly with those church bodies in the International Lutheran Council. We want to assure the remnant Church bodies in the world, that as much the apostasy may continue aggressively, we believe the Church will not be defaced from the face of the earth. We therefore want to encourage and stand with the remnant Church bodies in Europe like Mission province in Sweden, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in America, Faithful Lutheran Churches in Africa and the rest of the World to stand up and take the Challenge to remain faithful to the Scriptures – for by the Scripture the Lord will save the Church in the World even unto end of the earth.

Signed this 13th day of November 2009:

Most Rev. Dr. Walter Obare Arch Bishop

Rev. John Halakhe General Secretary

Courtesy of Lutheranism101.org comes this list of the “Top 24″ hymns that our Worship Arts department has received via out Lutheran Service Builder users, and there are now nearly 2,500 congregations using Lutheran Service Builder. When a hymn is selected, our servers are “pinged” so we are able to “watch” which hymns are the most popular. Here they are, listed by hymn title and number in Lutheran Service Book.

1. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God 656/6555
2. Amazing Grace 744
3. Beautiful Savior 537
4. Children of the Heavenly Father 725
5. Crown Him with Many Crowns 525
6. Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice 556
7. Go, My Children, with My Blessing 922
8. I Know That My Redeemer Lives 461
9. Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure 533
10. Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus 685
11. Lift High the Cross 837
12. Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word 655
13. Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds 465
14. O Lord, We Praise Thee 617
15. O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright 395
16. O Sacred Head, Now Wounded 449/450
17. Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow 805
18. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty 790
19. Savior of the Nations, Come 332
20. Silent Night, Holy Night 363
21. Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness 636
22. The Church’s One Foundation 644
23. The Tree of Life 561
24. Thy Strong Word 578

.”]

Dr. Bruce Kintz, President of Concordia Publishing House and Rev. Paul T. McCain enjoying a visit with Rev. John Halakhe, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya, and Rev. Isaiah Obara, also from the ELCK [son of Archbishop Walther Obare

One of the many joys of the last weekend was a chance to see friends from various parts of Africa and to meet new brothers in Christ from Africa. Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania….what inspiring and encouraging brothers in confession and life these men are! I laugh whenever I hear the Lutheran World Federation’s leaders talking about how the LWF is going to be “dialoguing” on issues of human sexuality. I laugh because of the utter foolishness of the Western Church leaders who seriously think they can put one over on these bold Lutheran confessors in Africa, who think they can somehow persuade them to simply “agree to disagree.” No. Way. These men know precisely what they believe, and why they believe it. The ferver of their commitment is unparalleled among us. These men are Lutherans. They know what that means, and they know how precious a treasure authentic, confessing Lutheranism is. Somebody said that the African Lutherans will some day send missionaries to the USA. To which I say, “The sooner the better.” We had one such missionary in our midst last Saturday, Archbishop Walter Obare of Kenya.