Home - T. R. Halvorson

Seeing Is Not Believing

In the three year lectionary, the Gospel text this year for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost is John 6:35-51. Let us observe how our text starts. First, Jesus declares who He is. He says, “I am the bread of life.” Next, He says that they have seen him. Then, He says that although they have […]

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Invocation

NOTE: This essay may be downloaded in a PDF here. Introduction Lutheran Orthodoxy teaches that an indispensable part of the mighty work that God has done in Christ is atonement by vicarious satisfaction. Adversaries of Lutheran Orthodoxy deny vicarious satisfaction. They teach that God just “up and forgave” before and without the blood of Christ. […]

Review: Weedon — Thank, Praise, Serve, and Obey

William Chancellor Weedon Thank, Praise, Serve, and Obey Review Jesus lived a perfect human life. We know that. But it is easy to miss some of his practices. It might sound strange, but Jesus was pious. He had godly habits. By them, he lived joyously, even though He also was a man of sorrows and […]

Jesus’ Senior Picture Was Not in the Newspaper

I redesigned my Dad’s ’69 Chevy pickup. From a stop sign on a side street, I pulled into an intersection entering a 4-lane avenue. Wham! I hadn’t seen that car to my left. The officer gave me a date to appear. Wearing my Sunday suit, I walked 20 blocks to court. The judge asked, “How […]

Objective & Subjective Justification – Pastors Todd Wilken & Rolf Preus

Have you heard the terms “objective justification” and “subjective justification”? Have you had questions about them? Have you been confounded by them? Be of good cheer! Pastor Todd Wilken interviews Pastor Rolf Preus on Issues, Etc., on “Objective & Subjective Justification.” Listen to this clarifying and faith-strengthening broadcast on demand.

Tolerance for Only a Slight Variation from the Truth

When Satan seeks to supplant truth with error he is not so foolish as outright to propose that error be accepted. At the fall he was subtle enough not to suggest that. He did not propose outright rebellion against God. He suggested only a slight variation from what God had said, “Is it really true […]

Review of Eckardt’s Anselm and Luther on the Atonement: Was It “Necessary”?

The trouble with many conventional treatments of Anselm and Luther is that they fail to consider their differences in purpose and method. This failure, especially among many claiming to be heirs of Luther, has driven a deeper and wider wedge between Anselm and Luther than is warranted. To be sure, they have differences, and to be sure, the differences are significant. But on vicarious satisfaction they hardly are as distant from one another as has been made the popular perception.

How Jesus Fooled the World

Messiah is a person foretold in Hebrew prophesies. The prophets spoke during more than 1000 years. Each added specifics to who Messiah would be. To fool the world, all Jesus had to do was fulfill a few hundred prophesies. Let’s look at a sample. Jesus was choosy about his parents, to make himself a descendant […]

The Saddest Chapter in the History of Mankind

We are now about to discuss the saddest chapter in the whole history of mankind. Think of it: man is unable to bring about his reconciliation with God, and so God Himself accomplished it by surrendering His own Son and placing Him under the obligation and curse of the Law. God has thus graciously prepared […]

No-Name Evangelistic Association: How Faith Comes to Grandchildren

How did the Christian faith come from my grandparents to my grandchildren? It came by mission, but not by missionalism. If this mission were given a slogan, it would be, “Start true to reach true.” Truth was the first thing. Then mission followed. Instead of “Start new to reach new,” instead of “sacramental entrepreneurs,” instead […]

Is Love a Lie?

What is more common than talk of love? The word is overused. So much love is false. Billy Joel sang truth in “A Matter of Trust”: Some love is just a lie of the heartThe cold remains of what began with a passionate startSome love is just a lie of the soulA constant struggle for […]

Foreword: A Year of Law & Gospel Preaching

Foreword from A Year of Law & Gospel Preaching:Postil of Sermons on the One-Year Lectionaryby Rev. Rolf D. Preus Being called to write this foreword is among the highest honors of my life. The call came to me because I am a parishioner of Pastor Preus. The Holy Spirit preaches Law and Gospel to me […]

Did Jesus Use the iPhone’s Apple Maps

When iPhone got Apple Maps, Apple received a storm of criticism. The maps were inaccurate. Australian police issued a warning not to use them to get to the town of Mildura. It would leave users stranded in Murray-Sunset Nation Park, 70 kilometers off target, and in a dangerous place without proper preparation. Jesus looks like […]

Escaping a prairie fire on burnt out ground

Drought and fires this year (2017) recall memories of prairie fires in homesteading days. In high winds, fires moved rapidly, burning grass, crops, livestock, wildlife, buildings, and people. One time a homesteading father saw a fire fanned by winds toward his farm. He realized he and his family could not run away from it. He […]

W and M Forms of “Worship”

Lutheran worship, when true to Lutheran faith, takes the shape or form of a W, so to speak. The W begins above with God who comes down to us — \ — offering gifts in Word and Sacrament. When repentance receives these gifts with contrition and faith, faith believing the Gospel responds according to the […]

New Book: Vicarious Satisfaction in Lutheran Catechisms, Confessions, and Hymns

Synoptic Text Information Services, Inc. announces the release of the new book, Vicarious Satisfaction in Lutheran Catechisms, Confessions, and Hymns by T. R. Halvorson. Lutheran Orthodoxy teaches that a vital part of the work of God in Christ is atonement by vicarious satisfaction. Vicarious satisfaction is attested in Scripture, the Lutheran confessions in the Book […]

Minute Messages: Gospel-Filled Devotions for Every Occasion — Reviewed

by T. R. Halvorson Note: This article may be downloaded as a PDF file. Outline Citation Executive Summary Author Plan of the Book Strengths of the Book Folding It In Upshot It is amazing what God’s Word can do in one minute. Citation Richard, Matthew, Minute Messages: Gospel-Filled Devotions for Every Occasion, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing […]

Make Sure You Enjoy Being in the Field on Your Way to Resurrection

One spring when I was a teenager, my Dad injured his back. He landed in the hospital in traction. That left seeding the crop to me. Could I get it done? I doubted and dreaded. When I got to the farmyard, before I knew what I was doing, I had climbed the windmill tower and […]

You Are Nominated for the King’s Choice Award

Hollywood royalty. Millions watch them in theatres. More millions watch them when their movies are on television. Still more watch them receiving Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, and People’s Choice Awards. In those pageants, the media rank their glory by what they wear, who their designers are, who does their hair, and who arrives with whom. […]

What was I thinking when reciting the Creed?

A mindless repetition. That is what critics of creeds say about reciting the Creed. Opponents of liturgy call it a vain repetition. Of course, it is possible to say the Creed mindlessly. People say all kinds of things mindlessly. Sometimes we even say well-intended things like, “I love you,” somewhat mindlessly. We still should say […]

Liturgy and Communion

Bibliography

Bibliography: Atonement

Books

Vicarious Satisfaction in Lutheran Catechisms, Confessions, and Hymns

Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt

Catechism and Confessions

Vicarious Satisfaction in Explanations of Luther’s Small Catechism

Vicarious Satisfaction in the Lutheran Confessions

Hymns

Vicarious Satisfaction in Lutheran Hymns

Book Reviews

Jack D. Kilcrease, The Doctrine of the Atonement from Luther to Forde

Theodore Dierks, Reconciliation and Justification

Junius B. Remensnyder, Atonement and Modern Thought

Burnell F. Eckardt, Anselm and Luther on the Atonement: Was It “Necessary”?

Errors and Truth

Atonement in Our Circles and Church

The Cracked Foundation of Forde’s Radical Lutheranism

Nice Guys Ruin the Consolation of Christ’s Blood

The Saddest Chapter in the History of Mankind

NEC-NOS

Finally! Some Satisfaction in the Atonement

How Do Sump Pumps and Sacrifice Work?

Escaping a Prairie Fire on Burnt Out Ground

Jesus Received Up — John 9:51-56

Bibliography

Bibliography: Liturgy and Communion

Worship in General

Relevant Worship: The Story of Your Life

Worship: What for? Who acts? Which way does it flow?

W and M Forms of “Worship”

How Can Worship Begin — Baptism: No Stepping on the Lord’s Train

Parts of the Service

The Evangelical Kyrie

Why the Preface, Agnus Dei, and Pax Domini? Real Presence

Nunc Dimittis: Seeing God’s Savior and Salvation

What was I thinking when reciting the Creed?

Real Presence

Would you deny Real Presence to escape the jaws of beasts?

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Worship in General

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Invocation

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)

NEC-NOS

The Sacrament and the Second Petition in Leviticus

Hushing Christ’s Words of Institution: Then and Now

Publisher’s Preface: Luther’s Liturgical Criteria, Bryan D. Spinks

The Focus of Life is “None of the Above”

Luther’s Liturgical Criteria and His Reform of the Canon of the Mass

Luther reformed the Canon of the Mass, the way the Sacrament of the Altar is administered. He has been branded a liturgical hack.

Was he a hack or a surgeon? What part did Jesus’ own words have in Luther’s reform. Is the Lord’s Supper a sacrifice we are to offer to God, or is it a testament and gift that Christ gives to the Church?

World renowned scholar Bryan D. Spinks reports the findings of his research. Spinks identifies errors of scholastic procedure in the body of literature. He examines root sources. By his industry and workmanlike procedure, Spinks succeeds at what he set out to do: Let Luther answer for himself.

As John T. Pless says in the Foreword: “It took an Anglican to rescue Luther from the Lutheran liturgical gurus. That was my first response to reading this tightly-packed and potent monograph years ago. Its value has not diminished with the passage of time. … Spinks demonstrates that Luther’s liturgical revisions were not sloppily done but carried out with integrity based on his confession of justification by faith alone. Luther understood God to be the donor in the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper. Thanksgiving which flows from the gift dare not blur this fact. The Sacrament is the Gospel.”

Spinks’ achievement gives this work an exceptional place in the literature. A new audience needs it. This is why it should be republished. First published in 1982, it has gone out of print. Used copies are rare and expensive. Dr. Spinks once more gives a precious gift to the Church by readily and graciously granting his permission for this new edition.

With new musical engravings of the Verba and The German Sanctus by Jon D. Vieker and commendation by William C. Weedon, this new edition bursts the epiphany of Spinks’ brilliance into the sight of a new audience and generation.