Very Short and Very Sweet Martin Luther Devotions

Last updated on: December 17, 2014 at 2:32 pm By nathanrinne

What does Martin Luther have to say about the inner-life of the Christian? Newly translated comments on Bible texts for every day of the year are now being made available free of charge by Lutheran Press. Simply “like” Lutheran Press on Facebook to receive Luther’s intriguing insights daily. Lutheran Press, started by pastors Paul Strawn (full disclosure: he is my pastor) and Holger Sonntag, is the publishing house that translated into English Martin Luther’s Antinomian Disputations. Some of the excerpts... Read more

Blessed Martin Luther: "The person who can rightly divide Law and Gospel has reason to thank God."

Last updated on: December 16, 2014 at 8:50 pm By trentdemarest

From Martin Luther’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), trans. Theodore Graebner (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1949) p. 60 [Ch. 2] VERSE 14. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. No one except Paul had his eyes open. Consequently it was his duty to reprove Peter and his followers for swerving from the truth of the Gospel. It was no easy task for Paul to reprimand Peter. To the honor of Peter... Read more

Walking in the Spirit: Romans 8 in light of 6 and 7

Last updated on: December 16, 2014 at 8:38 am By ericphillips

I ran across this question in a Facebook group: What did St. Paul mean in Romans 8 when he spoke of walking according to the spirit? I read through that chapter tonight, and I had several flash backs from my days of Calvinism. It was sermons, such as the one preached in the video I will link (only four minutes – taken from a 40 minute sermon originally preached by a Reformed preacher), that drove me to despair and made... Read more

John and Isaiah, Mary and Elizabeth

Last updated on: December 15, 2014 at 8:15 pm By ericphillips

This is the sermon from last Sunday, the 2nd of Advent (I’m a little behind) and the shorter sermon from our second midweek service. The first one considers the prophecy from Isaiah 40, “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low'” (v. 3-4a, the whole text being v. 1-11) in light of... Read more

ConcordCast: a daily audio broadcast of the Lutheran Confessions

Last updated on: December 15, 2014 at 12:13 am By trentdemarest

Are you interested in learning more about what Lutherans believe, teach, and confess? Do you find that you don’t have much time to read throughout the day? Do you have an irrational fear of papercuts? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you may be interested in my new project. It’s called ConcordCast, and it’s a daily audio broadcast of the Lutheran Confessions. Together with a team of able-voiced contributors, I’m reading the Book of Concord out... Read more

Behold, and it came to pass, a new Lutheran T-shirt…

Last updated on: December 13, 2014 at 6:28 pm By trentdemarest

Back in 2007 or so, New Reformation Press started marketing this shirt: You’ve probably seen it before. It’s sort of emblematic of what some would call “the Lutheran view of sanctification,” and what others would call, “a dumb caricature, which, while intending to be funny, says more about the lack of understanding of sanctification on the part of the person wearing it than anything else.” De gustibus. Don’t shoot the messenger. Anyway, I’ve got a great idea for my own version... Read more

Episode 28: Thomas Kinkade, Kirk Cameron, and Christian Art, Oh My! A conversation about Christians and Art.

Last updated on: December 12, 2014 at 5:07 pm By Jordan Cooper

However, when man’s natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple... Read more

Listener Q & A

Last updated on: December 10, 2014 at 5:50 pm By Jordan Cooper

I spent the program answering listener questions, addressing a number of topics. I discussed speech-act theory, the difference between Lutheran and Reformed approaches to union with Christ, the continual nature of justification, and the use of prayer beads. Here is the program Read more

"When [sin] reigns in one’s nature, not yet fully purged, then assuredly the true doctrine is soon lost"

Last updated on: December 9, 2014 at 1:39 pm By nathanrinne

Martin Luther was not one to mince words. In one his last sermons, on Rom. 12:3, Luther stated about a month before his death (AE 51:376-377): “Therefore, see to it that you hold reason in check and do not follow her beautiful cogitations. Throw dirt in her face and make her ugly. Don’t you remember the mystery of the holy Trinity and the blood of Jesus Christ with which you have been washed of your sins? Again, concerning the sacrament,... Read more

"Why do you talk so much about sanctification?"

Last updated on: December 8, 2014 at 6:31 pm By trentdemarest

To get at an answer to this question (often put to me more in the form of a charge or accusation), I’d like to direct the reader to an extended excerpt from Adolf Köberle’s very useful work, The Quest for Holiness. If you have never read, or if it’s been awhile since you’ve read, Köberle’s book, then read this chapter sometime today, as it stands alone as a rather marvelous essay. It’s something of a pause in the context of the larger work,... Read more