τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν μένουσαν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον
ἐργάζεσθε μὴ τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν ἀπολλυμένην
ἀλλὰ τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν μένουσαν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον,
ἣν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑμῖν δώσει·
τοῦτον γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ἐσφράγισεν ὁ θεός.
Creator of heaven and earth
Update to the Genesis days of creation:
Fixation on various scientific and theological theories related to the age and motion of the earth often overshadows the central teaching of Scripture. Anders Nygren extensively researched what is essential to Christianity, as seen most notably in his Essence of Christianity and Agape and Eros. For comments on the latter, see the blog Agapē Enthroned.
Confessional Lutheran blogroll
Categorized confessional Lutheran blogroll (from the Augsburg Aggregator)
Augsburg Aggregator will close
The Augsburg Aggregator will close 1 November 2010. I warmly thank all who supported the aggregation website by visiting it, linking to it, or suggesting member blogs for it.
The categorized list of confessional Lutheran blogs is available as this OPML file for importing into other aggregators. Please leave comments related to any efforts to offer a similar aggregator to the public.
I will continue to focus my own efforts on the Agapē Enthroned blog.
“Tongues for Telling the Mighty Works of God” (Acts 2:1-21) « St. Matthew Lutheran Church
All of us, laypeople and pastor alike, can use our tongues to tell others the great things of God we know. And we can also invite those people to church, where they can get more of the preaching and teaching in depth from the pastor. It’s a “both-and.” It’s all good.
But today, first of all, dear Christians–first and last of all, the Spirit is speaking to you. I am here to tell you the good news–for you! And the bottom line is this, the same one Peter used: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” This is a day of salvation for you! Yes, there is a day of judgment coming, that day when Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. And you would not pass muster on that day, if left to yourself. Your sins would condemn you. But the day of Pentecost is a day full of grace. Full of grace! It’s a day for spreading the good news: Christ Jesus died and rose for your salvation, the Lord God makes his name known to you, and the Spirit quickens your heart so that you call on that name in faith. And so you will be saved! Thank God! The good news of Pentecost is this: The mighty works of God are still working today!
via “Tongues for Telling the Mighty Works of God” (Acts 2:1-21) « St. Matthew Lutheran Church.
The covenant of hope and grace
What higher gift can we inherit?
It is faith’s bond and solid base;
It is the strength of heart and spirit,
The covenant of hope and grace.
Lord, may Thy body and Thy blood
Be for my soul the highest good!
—The Lutheran Hymnal, "I come, O Savior, to Thy Table," 315; cf. Matt. 26:28
via Royal covenants according to Scripture and theologians, revised today.
Calvin on the real presence
Unlikely Luther, Calvin could never say we orally receive the body and blood of Christ or that even unbelievers receive his body and blood. Many Lutherans have found it revealing that while Calvin taught us to ascend to heaven to partake of the body and blood of Christ present up there, for Luther, Christ comes to offer his forgiveness to us here on earth.
“The Consensus Tigurinus was composed by Calvin himself, in 1549, and was adopted by the Zurich theologians. It comprises twenty-six articles, which treat only of the sacrament of the Supper. It grew out of a desire upon the part of Calvin, to effect a union among the Reformed upon the doctrine of the Eucharist. The attitude of Calvin respecting the Sacramentarian question was regarded by the Lutherans, as favourable rather than otherwise to their peculiar views. His close and cordial agreement with Luther upon the fundamental points in theology, together with the strength of his phraseology when speaking of the nature of the Eucharist, led the Swiss Zuinglians to deem him as on the whole further from them than from their opponents. In this Consensus Tigurinus, he defines his statements more distinctly, and left no doubt in the minds of the Zurichers that he adopted heartily the spiritual and symbolical theory of the Lord’s Supper. The course of events afterwards showed that Calvin’s theory really harmonized with Zuingle’s.” [Source: A History of Christian Doctrine By William Greenough Thayer Shedd, 1863.].
