Two Notes: This article originally published January 3, 2014 on TwinStoneWarden.The problems described here got much better with the publication of Jack Kilcrease’s The Doctrine of the Atonement from Luther to Forde. You can read my review of that book here. Ever since reading Gustaf Aulén’s Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types […]
by T. R. Halvorson Note: This article may be downloaded as a PDF file. Outline Citation Executive Summary Author Standing Plan of the Book Overview of Substance Summary of Chapters Evaluation Citation Remensnyder, Junius B. The Atonement and Modern Thought, Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1905. Executive Summary This book should be appreciated by all Christians. […]
Three streams. There are three streams that have flowed into current confessional Lutheranism. (There are more, but for present purposes, these three are sufficient to consider.) Stream One. Those born, baptized, raised, confirmed, and still living in confessional Lutheranism. Stream Two. Those born, baptized, raised, and confirmed in Lutheran synods that went antinomian. Examples would […]
by T. R. HalvorsonNote: This article may be downloaded as a PDF file. In Scripture and the Lutheran confessions, Christ works the atonement in his life of active obedience (Matthew 3:15), his passive obedience of humbling himself to death on the cross (Philippians 2:8), and in his rising for the justification of the whole world. […]
I almost flunked out of high school. The first time was in algebra, trying to solve polynomials. “Solving” means finding the roots of many terms. My translation? Trying to make sense of a heap of concepts. Good gravy. After my algebra disaster, it was surprising how well I did in geometry. It’s not that geometry […]
On Christmas Day, heresies begin in earnest. Our desire for self-justification cannot abide the Incarnation. It is a scandal that we should need God to come to us in this way to save us. Did it take all this? Are we so bad? Are we so powerless? See the Christ child with our eyes, not […]
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 […]
by T. R. Halvorson Note: This article may be downloaded as a PDF file. Summary A prior article (“What Are You Taught About Redemption?”) briefly sketched the orthodox Christian doctrine of Christ’s redemption by vicarious satisfaction; heretical denial of vicarious satisfaction by some popular Lutheran theologians; and how the Lutheran church has taught vicarious satisfaction […]
Publisher’s Preface “Drink from it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” By these words, did Jesus give the Church a sacrament, or did He require from us a sacrifice? What is a testament? What did Jesus want us to […]
Winston Churchill was visiting New York the day after the stock market crash of 1929. The noise of a crowd outside his hotel woke him. “Under my very window a gentleman cast himself down fifteen stories and was dashed to pieces, causing a wild commotion and the arrival of the fire brigade,” he wrote. Over […]
The Pagan and secular worlds say we have three options for emphasis in our lives: 1. Being 2. Doing 3. Thinking (or Believing) Which is it? None of the above. They overlook the fourth option: 4. Receiving Yes, receiving. The Doer is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God creates. The Father […]
When people talk about the Law, often they are ships passing in the night. They talk past each other. At the surface, they seem to be disagreeing with each other, but they are not even talking about the same thing. When it is assumed at the superficial level that they are talking about the same […]
Our fourth grade teacher gave us reading comprehension tests. We read compositions and answered questions. My grade was a shock. One little letter said the same thing as my teacher. “You don’t understand what you read,” she said. Literature was a locked book, and I did not have a key. This afflicted me especially with […]
A mother ordered her naughty son to sit in a corner. After a few minutes, he told his mother, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside!” He obeyed, but he didn’t submit. The conflict of wills between two different persons remained. In Gethsemane, the Father told his Son to […]
The parties in LCMS v. CTX, Christian, & Bannwolf[1] have agreed to scheduling of a jury trial of the case and a series of pre-trial procedures. For background on the case for those new to the topic, see: The case is set for jury trial commencing on September 8, 2025. Procedures leading from here to […]
Copyright (c) 2023 Dennis E. McFadden. Used by Permission. Rev. McFadden is a Pastor ordained in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. The meaning of “atonement” has been a topic of much debate in recent decades. A large number of theologians have dismissed the Reformation view as misguided and even barbaric. This book adds the […]
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 […]
Why the Preface, Agnus Dei, and Pax Domini?Real Presence By T. R. Halvorson NOTE: This article may be downloaded as a PDF Document The Service of the Sacrament begins with the Preface. Why? Is it just because we need some way of beginning? Is it because prefaces are how most things are begun? Is it […]
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 […]
Faith does not spring from nature, nor from our own reason, strength, or will. The Holy Spirit creates faith by the Word and Sacraments. When God said, “Let there be light,” there was light. “For He spoke, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” (Psalm 33:9) Light could do nothing to bring itself […]
Atonement
Liturgy and Communion
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.