Before 1700, common folk had wooden spoons. Well off people had silver. The saying, “He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” views a high-born person as knowing nothing about the struggles of life. As the Son of God, Jesus has a silver spoon, his divine powers. But He was born under the […]
Leviticus was used widely in the early church and later to preach the Gospel. The modern church generally ignores Leviticus.[1] Leviticus is a gift unopened and sent back to the Giver. We’re missing out. God speaks in Leviticus. Here He gives us many of the most basic and precious truths of forgiveness, life, and salvation, such […]
In the Treasury of Daily Prayer for January 8, the text from Romans talks about a natural knowledge of God from the glory of creation. This knowledge should exist, but because of man’s fault, it does not. By sin, man suppresses the natural knowledge of God, and only paganism results. To reveal himself, God turned to a […]
Outline Introduction On November 8, 2022, a majority of the Board of Regents (BOR) of Concordia University Texas (CTX) purportedly made that board self-governing and self-perpetuating in complete independence from the Concordia University System (CUS) and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). CTX delivered unauthorized and newly adopted governance documents to the Texas Secretary of State.[1] […]
At the time of Luther, the practice of the Sacrament of the Altar by papists inflicted many abuses upon the laity. These included withholding the cup from the laity, selling masses, masses for the dead, and more. The greatest abuse was warping the Sacrament from being a sacrament into being a sacrifice.[1] In a sacrifice, people […]
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 […]
George Carlin said, “One nice thing about egotists: they don’t talk about other people.” The Holy Spirit is not an egotist. He does not talk about himself. He talks about the Son. Tom Peters wrote: “Big companies understand the importance of brands. Today, in the Age of the Individual, you have to be your own […]
This is a presidential election year. There have been so many candidates. People wanted to know, who are these people, really? Who are these promise makers? One of the parties started with four candidates. One candidate is a political veteran who has been known for decades. The others are less known. People wondered, who are […]
Sometimes doctrinal review is like spell check. Spell check is up to its own task, but not up to other tasks. Its competence does not extend to, for example, diction. “Ode to the Spell Checker”by Jerrold H. Zar Eye halve a spelling checkerIt came with my pea sea.It plainly marks four my revue miss steaks […]
Bishop Tyranny and Heresy By T. R. Halvorson Note: This article may be downloaded as a PDF file. Introduction Some friends in a Lutheran congregation of a different synod from mine have been in a long pastoral vacancy. The bishop refused to give the congregation any names of candidates for a long time. He said […]
The combine, originally called the combine harvester, is a machine that harvests grain. It combines three harvest operations: reaping, threshing, and winnowing. Winnowing uses wind to separate chaff and dust from grain. In ancient farming, harvesters gathered the crop onto an outdoor threshing floor. They tossed the mixture into the air with winnowing forks. Wind […]
Below are two speeches that I am planning to give to Floor Committee 5 of the 2023 LCMS convention about Resolution 5-14 on the annotated Large Catechism. The first addresses the resolution generally, and the second goes into detail on one of the flaws of the annotated Large Catechism. Speech to Floor Committee on Resolution […]
Relevant Worship: The Story of Your Life By T. R. Halvorson NOTE: This article may be downloaded as a PDF Document In the worship wars, one of the alleged reasons for abandoning the historic liturgy is to make worship relevant. We want application of the Gospel in ways that connect with people. Dear friends, the […]
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 […]
On November 8, 2022, a majority of the Board of Regents (BOR) of Concordia University Texas (CTX) purportedly made that board self-governing and self-perpetuating in complete independence from the Concordia University System (CUS) and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). CTX delivered unauthorized and newly adopted governance documents to the Texas Secretary of State.[i] Rev. Michael […]
Note: The full article may be downloaded as a PDF here. Abstract 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. […]
The week he was gone from work, no one knew where he went. When he came back, he didn’t say, and no one asked. He seemed to be himself, except he was not going on like he usually did about his healthy lifestyle. In time he confided in a coworker. He’d gone out of state […]
by T. R. Halvorson Note: This article may be downloaded as a PDF file. Outline Citation Evaluation The Atonement in Lutheran Theology Plan of the Book The Problem Teaching of Christ and the Apostles Teaching of the Postapostolic Fathers Citation Dierks, Theodore. Reconciliation and Justification. St Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1938. Evaluation Dierks’ work in Part […]
Introduction On November 8, 2022, a majority of the Board of Regents (BOR) of Concordia University Texas (CTX) purportedly made that board self-governing and self-perpetuating in complete independence from the Concordia University System (CUS) and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). CTX delivered unauthorized and newly adopted governance documents to the Texas Secretary of State.[1] Much […]
Robert Preus said that Johannes Andreas Quenstedt was the Thomas Aquinas, so to speak, of Lutheran Orthodoxy, the last great representative. To anyone following his arrangement of material and noting his exegesis it will become evident that he was fair and meticulous in his work and drew from the best which his precursors had to […]
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.