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

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 […]

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 […]

Dr. Kloha’s Plastic Text of Scripture: Synodical Convention Controversy

Dr. Kloha’s Plastic Text of Scripture:Synodical Convention Controversy By T. R. Halvorson NOTE: This article may be downloaded as a PDF Document Introduction The Convention Workbook 2016 of the Lutheran Church – Missouri synod contains these two overtures: 4-23 To Settle Prof. Jeffery Kloha Controversy 4-24 To Request Public Clarification of Kloha Paper In preparation […]

The Blessed Begats

“The begats” is a listing of generations from Adam to Noah. It was repetitious and boring. In each generation, it says someone was born, had kids, lived awhile longer and they died. This repeats nine times. In the King James version, the wording was, the person “begat” sons and daughters. That’s why I call the […]

Strategic Defense of Justification: Recognize Recurring Theosis

Note: This article originally was published on October 29, 2014on Brothers of John the Steadfast This article is a layman’s plea to confessional Lutheran pastors, theologians, and doctors to consider the myriad of challenges to the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls from a simple, strategic perspective. Otherwise, all we’re ever going to […]

Trinity in Luther Christmas Sermon

From a sermon of Martin Luther for Christmas Day, reprinted in Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. I, pp. 181-83 (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, USA: 1983) “And the Word was with God.” 21. … But here he clearly distinguishes the persons, so that the Word is a different person than God with whom it was. […]

Who should judge a talent competition, or your whole life?

Television has many talent competitions. Big hit shows include Pop Idol, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, The Voice, and The X Factor. Sometimes the choice of judges is controversial. Highly accomplished vocal performer, Sir Tom Jones, took a swipe at The X Factor’s Simon Cowell, saying he is not qualified to judge because he has never sung live on stage […]

Talking Past Each Other About the Law

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 […]

Embarrassment of Western Christians with Leviticus

Christ and his apostles show that the ritual legislation in Leviticus is relevant for us. While the law of Moses does not prescribe what we do in the Divine Service, it helps us to understand how God interacts with us in Christ and in the Divine Service. So each section of this commentary ends with […]

Real Men Catechize their Children

Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche was the title of a best-selling book by Bruce Feirstein published in 1982. Supposedly, a real man would eat egg and bacon pie if his wife made it, she served it to him, and she cleaned up afterwards. What a real man would not do is make it himself, call it […]

The Hellacious Cost of Making the Creed Palatable

The presiding bishop of a Lutheran body said during an interview by reporter Robert Herguth during his podcast “Faith to Face” that there might be a hell, but she thinks it is empty.[1] In reality, many in that body don’t believe in hell. This comes into the open when congregations of that body remove, “He descended […]

FUBAR: Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition

In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Private Reiben asks, “Where’s the sense of riskin’ the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?” Captain Miller says, “We all have orders, and we have to follow ’em. That supersedes everything, including your mothers.” Private Reiben asks, “Even if you think the mission’s FUBAR, sir?” […]

Would You Deny Real Presence to Escape the Jaws of Beasts?

Would You Deny Real Presence to Escape the Jaws of beasts? By T. R. Halvorson NOTE: This article may be downloaded as a PDF Document A vogue phrase today is, “to die for.” “This chocolate is to die for.” “That dress is to die for.” A lifestyle clothing brand is called To Die For. A […]

Reconciliation and Justification, Theodore Dierks: Review

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 […]

Understanding Loaves and Signs

In the three-year lectionary, the Gospel text for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost is Mark 6:46-56. The same events are told in John 6:15-40 and Matthew 14:22-35. The disciples along with everyone else are having trouble understanding. This shows up several ways. The first is in connection with Jesus sending them away to the other […]

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Worship in General

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. […]

The Focus of Life is “None of the Above”

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 […]

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.

Will We Ever Hear the End of It?

You have seen a kid like him. One day, he is trying too hard to please everyone. The next, he doesn’t give a rip what anyone thinks. One minute, he walks with ease. The next, the ground beneath his feet turns uneven and rocky. You’re there one day when he gets into trouble. He “borrowed” […]

The Way Out for General MacArthur, Jesus, and Us

During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur was on the Philippine island of Corregidor helping to defend that country from invasion by the Empire of Japan. Fearing that Corregidor would fall and MacArthur would be taken prisoner, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to go to Australia. MacArthur balked from February 20 to March 11. He […]

Liturgy and Communion

Bibliography

Bibliography: Atonement

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.