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A Mostly Lutheran Library of
Online Theological Articles
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Each article here has been pivotal in my understanding of various facets of theology as I've moved from Pentecostalism into Lutheranism. The links are to copies here on my own site, but I give the source URL for each article in the comments that can be seen if one clicks on the "+" symbol following each article's label.
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Justification:
The Enduring Relevance of the Doctrine of Justification (Rolf Preus) 
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Excerpt:
| The simple truth, the foundational truth, of Christian theology is the blood of Jesus shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. I think that this is obvious. It leaps off the pages of the Bible. It is the center of the drama of Christ’s passion. It flows into Christ’s institution of the office of the ministry and literally creates the church from which his ministers are born and which they are to serve. It is the very heart of St. Paul’s theology. It grounds sacramental theology in Christ’s atonement where it belongs and from which it cannot be severed. Baptism reveals, as Luther’s hymn puts it, “the wonders of his precious blood” and by so doing assures us of God’s own pardon. And, of course, it is the essence of the Sacrament of the Altar that tells us in what specific manner Jesus wants us to remember him, namely, as he sheds his blood for us for the forgiveness of sins. This is simple.
Jesus said, “Given and shed for you for the remission of sins.” St. Paul said, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) and being “justified by His blood” (Romans 5:9). The meaning is the same. It has always been the same. This is why God clothed Adam and Eve -- covering their shame -- with the skins of animals whose blood was shed. This is why Abel offered a bloody sacrifice. This is why God provided a ram to be offered on Moriah instead of Isaac. This is why God required so much shedding of blood in the worship of his Old Testament Church. This is why the angels witnessed the sprinkling of blood on the Mercy Seat. And this is also the only place where theology can be relevant. If the blood and righteousness of Jesus are not relevant, the Christian faith is not only irrelevant: it is absurd. Unless justification is the illuminating truth through which every other topic of theology must be seen, theology itself will become not only irrelevant, but downright harmful as well. |
Original URL:
| http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/justificationpaper.html |
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Luther and the Mass - Justification and the Joint Declaration (Daniel Preus)
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Summary:
| Discusses the reasons why the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Roman Catholic Church and the ELCA violates true Lutheran Doctrine, especially in view of the respective understandings of the Lord's Supper. |
Excerpt:
| Luther's most strenuous objection was to the concept of mass as sacrifice. The Roman teaching that in the mass the priest offers a sacrifice and thus appeases God's anger denies the efficacy of Christ's atoning work. The papal mass is therefore a persistent, daily attack on the article of justification. It is an unremitting assault on the gospel and on the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. It completely distorts the nature of Christianity changing it from a religion of grace to one of works. |
Original URL:
| http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar92.htm |
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Sanctification:
Sanctification: By Grace Alone (David Scaer)
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Summary:
| This article places sanctification in its proper Biblical setting; it contains a pivotal understanding for those who have known only pietistic American evangelicalism. |
Original URL:
| www.mtio.com/articles/aissar6.htm |
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The Lord's Supper:
Holy Communion-Should We Offer It More Frequently? (David Schoessow)
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Summary:
| While making the a case for more frequent communion in the churches of the LCMS, this paper also includes a good sketch showing the centrality of the Lord's Supper in the New Testament itself. |
Original URL:
| http://www.confessionallutherans.org/papers/communion.html |
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Baptism:
The Holy Spirit and Water Baptism in Acts (Andrew Das)
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Excerpt:
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Let me turn to another aspect of Acts 2:38. Many of our Reformed brethren do not want to admit that water baptism conveys forgiveness. So when they work with this text they contend that the Greek preposition used in the phrase "for the forgiveness of sins" does not mean "for" but "because of the forgiveness of sin." In other words, the Reformed suggest that the Pentecost crowd should be baptized BECAUSE they had received the forgiveness of sins. Baptism was to be a SIGN of forgiveness and not a means of conveying forgiveness. But the problem is that the Greek word in question never means "because." For those of you who've been able to keep up a little with your Greek since seminary, it's the preposition "ace" or "ice," depending on who taught you Greek. What I find interesting is that Baptist authors when they're writing Greek grammars always have one and only one example of this preposition meaning "because": Acts 2:38. Sounds suspicious, doesn't it?
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Original URL:
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http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar84.htm
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Infant Baptism (Andrew Das)
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Excerpt:
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But there's more to Luke's emphasis on repentance. Take a look at Acts 5:31: "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that HE MIGHT GIVE REPENTANCE TO ISRAEL and forgiveness of sins." And Acts 11:18: "When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, 'Then God HAS GIVEN even to the Gentiles THE REPENTANCE that leads to life." For Luke, it is God who "GIVES" repentance. In Luke 3:3, baptism is FOR the forgiveness of sins. In Luke 3:6, John interprets his baptismal message as the dawning of the salvation OF GOD. This is an era that was not possible apart from God. As impossible as it may seem for infants to repent, Luke explains that repentance is equally impossible for adults as well. Repentance is simply a gift or miracle of God.
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Original URL:
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http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar55.htm
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Revivalism/Pietism:
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Charles Finney vs. the Evangelical Movement (Phillip R. Johnson)
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Summary:
| An excellent article which shows the malice Charles Finney held toward the true New Testament gospel of God's grace. |
Excerpt:
| Finney spends a considerable amount of time in several of his works arguing against "that theological fiction of imputation" [Memoirs,
58]. Those who have any grasp of Protestant doctrine will see
immediately that his attack at this point is a blatant rejection of the
doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide). It places
him outside the pale of true evangelical Protestantism. The doctrine of
imputed righteousness is the very heart of the historic difference
between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The whole doctrine of
justification by faith hinges on this concept. But Finney flatly
rejected it. He derided the concept of imputation as unjust: "I could
not but regard and treat this whole question of imputation as a
theological fiction, somewhat related to our legal fiction of John Doe
and Richard Roe" [Memoirs, 60]. |
Original URL:
| http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/finney.htm |
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Baptism: A Christological Work (Lawrence Rast)
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Summary:
| An interesting look at the contrast between Luther's view of baptism and that of the Pietists. |
Original URL:
| http://www.lifeoftheworld.com/lotw/03-03/03-03-04.php |
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The Theology of the Church Growth Movement (Klemet Preus)
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Summary:
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This is a critical review of a book by a leading Lutheran advocate of the Church Growth Movement,
Kent Hunter, who claims that the movement, far from being in conflict with
basic Lutheran teaching, is in fact a return to its most fundamental teachings. Pastor
Klemet Preus, the reviewer, disagrees with this claim and shows why.
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Excerpt:
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A strong resemblance exists between Pentecostalism in its classic form and the Church Growth Movement. Church growth has simply applied to the church that which Pentecostalism applied to the individual. Pentecostalism also postulates a two-tiered Christianity. Some are justified and forgiven but have not experienced the second-level Christianity proposed by Pentecostalism. They are saved but still in the enemy's war-camp. With the necessary prodding these carnal Christians can be brought to the second level of Christianity. They can experience the baptism of the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit. At this point they become vibrant witnesses for God, their prayer life explodes, and they are able to read the word and receive the sacraments with more focus and power...
Lutherans have no such doctrine of the church. The classical Lutheran definition of the church sees no gradations of churches, just as it sees no gradation of individuals within the church. Lutherans, like Luther, define the church as those who gather around the word and sacraments. In Lutheranism the church is always defined in passive terms. "The church is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in it purity and the holy sacraments are administered" (AC VII). "Thank God a child of seven years knows what the Church is, namely the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of the their shepherd. Holiness . . . consists in the Word of God and true faith" (SA III, XII). "I believe that there is upon earth a little holy group and congregation of pure saints under one head, Christ, called together by the Holy Ghost in one faith, . . . I am brought into it and incorporated into it by the Holy Ghost by having heard and continuing to hear the Word of God which is the beginning of entering it" (LC II, 51). Notice the passive concepts. The church, upon assembling, is preached to and receives. The church listens to the voice of the shepherd. The church is headed by Christ and incorporated by his word. Because the church exists by grace alone its essence is passive. The essence of the church is the word of the gospel, the voice of the Lamb. Now, obviously, Christians also do something. "Faith is a living busy active powerfril thing so that it is impossible for it not to do good without ceasing" (FC SD IV, 10). The essence of the church, however, is not in its doing but in its receiving what God has done. We are purely passive in the article of justification. This article defines the church passively.
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Originial URL:
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http://www.confessionallutherans.org/papers/klemet.html
(from the 'Sermons and Papers' page of the 'Confessional Lutherans' Web site)
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