Monday, December 10, 2012

Human wisdom gazes at the Law and seeks justification in it rather than the foolishness of Christ crucified for us...

The adversaries base justification on love because they everywhere teach and require the righteousness of the Law.  We cannot deny that love is the Law's highest work.  Human wisdom gazes at the Law and seeks justification in it.  So the scholastic doctors, great and talented men, proclaim love as the Law's highest work and base justification on this work.  Deceived by human wisdom, they did not look upon the uncovered, but upon the veiled face of Moses, just like the Pharisees, philosophers, and followers of Muhammad.  But we preach the foolishness of the Gospel, in which another righteousness is revealed: for Christ's sake as the Atonement, we are counted righteous when we believe that God has been reconciled to us for Christ's sake.  Neither are we ignorant about how far distant this teaching is from the judgement of reason and the Law.  Nor are we ignorant that the Law's teaching about love makes a much greater show.  For it is wisdom.  But we are not ashamed of the Gospel's foolishness.  We defend this truth for the sake of Christ's glory and ask Christ, by His Holy Spirit, to help up so that we may be able to make this clear and obvious.
~BOC, AP, V (III), 108-109

Thursday, December 6, 2012

We will not overlook error or be silent, will not speak or write anything contrary to this Confession...

Our opponents have shameless mouths that have shouted allegations throughout the whole world against our churches and teachers.  They claimed that you cannot find two preachers who agree about each and every article of the Augsburg Confession, but that they are torn apart and separated from one another to such an extent that they themselves no longer know what the Augsburg Confession is and what its proper meaning is.  Therefore, we did not present this common Confession briefly or merely by signing our names, but we wanted to make a pure, clear, distinct declaration about all the disputed articles that have been discussed and argued among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession.  We did this so that everyone may see we do not want to hide or cover up all this in a cunning way or come to agreement only in appearance.  We want to remedy the matter thoroughly, and wanted to set forth our opinion on these matters in such a way that even our adversaries themselves must confess that in all this we abide by the true, simple, natural, and proper sense of the Augsburg Confession.  We desire, by God's grace, to persevere constantly in this confession until our end.  And as long as it depends on our ministry, we will not overlook error or be silent, lest anything contrary to the genuine sense of the Augsburg Confession is introduced into our churches and schools, in which the almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed us teachers [Latin: doctors] and pastors.

...

In the sight of God and of all Christendom, we want to testify to those now living and those who will come after us.  This declaration presented here about on the controverted articles mentioned and explained above--and no other--is our faith, doctrine, and confession.  By God's grace, with intrepid hearts, we are willing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ with this Confession and give an account to it.  We will not speak or write anything contrary to this Confession, either publicly or privately.  By the strength of God's grace we intend to abide by it.  Therefore, after mature deliberation, we have, in the fear of God and by calling on His name, attached our signatures with our own hands.
~BOC, FSD, XII, 3-6, 40

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

We hallow the Lord's Day not merely by listening to God's Word, but also by learning it and honoring it...

It is not only the people who greatly misuse and desecrate the holy day who sin against this commandment (those who neglect to hear God's Word because of their greed or frivolity or lie in taverns and are dead drunk like swine).  But even that other crowd sins.  They listen to God's Word like it was any other trifle and only come to preaching because of custom.  They go away again, and at the end of the year they know as little of God's Word as at the beginning.  Up to this point the opinion prevailed that you had properly hallowed Sunday when you had heard a Mass or the Gospel read.  But no one cared for God's Word, and no one taught it.  Now that we have God's Word, we fail to correct the abuse  We allow ourselves to be preached to and admonished, but we do not listen seriously and carefully.

Know, therefore, that you must be concerned not only about hearing, but also about learning and retaining God's Word in memory.  Do not think that this is optional for you or of no great importance. Think that it is God's commandment, who will require an account from you about how you have heard, learned and honored His Word.
~BOC, LC, I, 96-98