The views expressed in the following material are not necessarily the views of Just & Sinner, any of its contributing editors, or Rev. Jordan B. Cooper. They are presented as food for thought with the permission of their author. Any comments which are not directly germane to the material content of the post, but which instead seek to impugn or discredit the source, will be deleted and their authors will be banned from the site. –admin Fr. Jack Whritenour,... Read more
When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the Formula of Concord, Article III. The question answered by James 2:20 is not “How is a man justified?” but rather “How do you see that a man is justified?” And the answer is: the same way you see that a tree is good. If someone is a Christian, you will see... Read more
On this subject Matt and Levi discuss the Lord’s Supper and how this doctrine makes Lutherans more Catholic than Protestant, while Trent serves coffee somewhere in the barren wasteland of Canada. We read through scripture, the confessions, and a few early church fathers as we do our best to explain why Lutherans (and the rest of the Church Catholic) have always been literalists when it comes to Christ’s words: “This is my Body… This is my Blood”. We end by... Read more
“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.“ — Galatians 5:17 I’ve been doing a bunch of posts about “The Third Use of the Law”. Here is what we might call part I and part II. This would be part III. A couple years ago, on Gene Veith’s blog, I... Read more
The following quote is taken from a comment by Rev. Dr. Holger Sonntag from an ongoing conversation over at Brothers of John the Steadfast. For a sneak-peek of Dr. Sonntag’s English translation of The Apology of the Book of Concord, coming Summer 2015, click here! + + + We believe based on the Bible that Christ’s gifts are not separated from Christ, the Giver of those gifts. Accordingly, our confessions reject as... Read more
From Christian Dogmatics, Vol. III, (CPH, St. Louis: 2011) pp. 20-37 The Necessity of Sanctification and Good Works The dispute about the necessity of good works was in part simply a logomachy, the words “necessity” and “free” lending themselves to different meanings. Formula of Concord: “This controversy was originally occasioned by the words necessitas and libertas, that is, necessary and free, because especially the word necessitas, necessary, signifies not only the eternal immutable order according to which all men are obliged and in duty bound... Read more
In this second session of the Christian Dogmatics course, we discussed the aims of theology, and the relationship of theology to science, philosophy, and ethics. Here is the video The outline for this class can be found here: Christian Doctrine Class 2 Outline Read more
This is a compilation of many of the available resources from Joel Biermann regarding his teaching on the two kinds of righteousness. Just and Sinner Programs Two Kinds of Righteousness A Case for Character Preaching the Two Kinds of Righteousness Other interviews A Case for Character (and Potlucks!)- Boars in the Vineyard Videos from Lutheran Doctrine Course Two Kinds of Righteousness Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Righteousness Uses of the Law Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Sanctification Vocation Three... Read more
On today’s program, I played a lecture from Rev. Dave Spotts of Wittenberg Door Ministries in Columbia, MO. In this presentation pastor Spotts makes a case for judging our faith and practice against Scripture. This use of Scripture as our authority in judging the history of the Christian faith is central to living an authentic, Reformational life in Christ. Here is the program Read more
My last two sermons have focused on the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins and the parable of the Talents respectively (both in Matt 25). I’ve been congested a while, and preached both with the aid of Mucinex and water laced with an herbal remedy. My voice is considerably rougher in the second sermon. Think of it as an Apocalyptic special effect. 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (Amos 5:18–24, 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, Matthew 25:1–13): 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (Zephaniah 1:7–16,... Read more
Just and Sinner
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In