Teaching Posted in April 2025

 

The Small Catechism – part 143

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 1 John 1:5–10

The forgiveness of sins is available because we admit our condition, the need of a Savior, and the truth that the Father sent his Son into the world to accomplish this very thing once and for all.

More

The Small Catechism – part 142

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 1 John 2:12

We believe in the forgiveness of sins. Pardon does not come by once being forgiven and then no longer sinning. The forgiveness of sins comes to us for his name’s sake, in other words, through the name of Christ.

More

The Small Catechism – part 141

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Hebrews 10:25

“I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian,” he told me. Then he added, “The Bible doesn’t say I have to go to church.” I was so informed by a police officer in the process of a raid on a house.

More

The Small Catechism – part 140

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Galatians 6:14–16

What is this holy catholic church? Let us look to the defining words; and let us do so in reverse order, allowing the descriptive words to address the direct object. What is the church?

More

The Small Catechism – part 139

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 12:3

If we agree with Luther’s teaching on the third article of the Creed, we are acknowledging that we cannot climb our way to God. We are conceding that we cannot even believe in God without the Holy Spirit’s assistance.

More

The Small Catechism – part 138

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 15:26

Jesus did not leave his disciples alone when he ascended. Nor are we alone today; he has given us the same Spirit, his own Spirit, “the Spirit of Christ.”

More

The Small Catechism – part 137

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Acts 16:30b–31

We come now to Luther’s teaching on what good it is to know this second article of the Apostles’ Creed. These benefits include the confident hope of redemption, freedom, inclusion, eternal life.

More

The Small Catechism – part 136

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 4:1–2

The Father has appointed Christ alone to judge the world — both the living and all who ever lived. Christ must be the judge of the living and the dead because he is the only one appropriate to the task.

More

The Small Catechism – part 135

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Ephesians 1:20–21

Being at the right hand of the Father means that Christ Jesus is seated on the throne of all thrones. He has power and authority which excels all others.

More

The Small Catechism – part 134

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Acts 1:9

Jesus ascended; he was raised to the Father's side in heaven so that he may share in the fullness of divinity. He is not simply God, nor only a man; Jesus is now God in the flesh, seated at the Father's right hand.

More

The Small Catechism – part 133

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

We cannot live with Jesus in eternity if he is not there. If God's Christ is still dead and buried in the ground, we cannot live with him in heaven — nor can we live there without him.

More

The Small Catechism – part 132

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Philippians 2:9-11

In reference to yesterday's lesson on Christ Jesus preaching to those spirits in prison, many people want to know who these spirits are and what this prison is exactly. It is enough to know the universality of Christ's sovereignty.

More

The Small Catechism – part 131

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: 1 Peter 3:18-19

It is a mystery to me why people want to get rid of the word "hell" in the Apostles' Creed. Are they afraid Christ Jesus cannot handle the place of the damned?

More

The Small Catechism – part 130

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Matthew 16:21

In order to emphasize the fact of Jesus’ death, the creed states that he was buried. Burial is necessary for those who are truly human and have died. In other words, Jesus was not an apparition; he was a man who had actually died.

More

The Small Catechism – part 129

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 19:30

Did Jesus really die? If he is God, can God die? Some say that he did not actually die. It is called the “swoon theory,” meaning Jesus only fainted on the cross, was presumed dead, then carried off to his grave.

More

The Small Catechism – part 128

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Philippians 2:5–7

Why did God come to earth in human flesh? Why lower himself to such a level (if it really is such a low level)? God did so because love made him do it.

More

The Small Catechism – part 127

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Luke 23:22–24

Jesus, innocent man and holy God, was condemned to suffer the cruelest death the Romans had at their disposal. He would be crucified. His crucifixion was mere expedience in Pilate’s mind.

More

The Small Catechism – part 126

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Luke 1:35

Jesus was born of the virgin named Mary but he was conceived by God. The Holy Spirit was the fathering agent, therefore the holy child was of two natures: divine and human. Jesus was born in “the likeness of men," that is, he is similar to a man.

More

The Small Catechism – part 125

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Romans 10:9

We moderns, especially in Western cultures, tend to speak of the heart as being an emotional vessel. In the consideration of the ancient Hebrews, the heart was the seat of thought and will, as well as emotion.

More

The Small Catechism – part 124

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Philippians 2:9–11

As Jesus is master over life and death, so he is Lord of all things in life and death. He is God over all creation: in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth.

More

The Small Catechism – part 123

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 20:28–29

Thomas, the perennial doubter, at seeing his crucified rabbi alive and standing before him, confessed what John had related at the beginning of his Gospel.

More

The Small Catechism – part 122

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Romans 8:32

As Abraham did not spare his own Son when God commanded it of him, God did not spare his own Son when his will demanded it of himself. Through this precious, only Son, he has redeemed the creation he loves.

More

The Small Catechism – part 121

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 1:14

Just as God settled among his people in the Old Testament, God now “tabernacles” among those who believe. He does so through his Son, Christ Jesus, who is the exact image of God.

More

The Small Catechism – part 120

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Isaiah 61:1

Sometimes the Old Testament speaks of the king as an anointed one, a person on whom God’s blessing rests. A priest would pour a flask of oil over the king’s head as a symbol that God had anointed him king.

More

The Small Catechism – part 119

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Matthew 1:21

The name “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua” (which later morphed into “Jeshua”) which means “the Lord saves.”

More

The Small Catechism – part 118

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 18:37–38

“This is most certainly true!” declares Luther. “What is truth?” responds Pilate. The Truth was standing right in front of him, and he dismissed him as though truth were too difficult to nail down.

More

The Small Catechism – part 117

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Psalm 90:1–2

God has given us all we need for life. More than that, he has made himself our home. Paul puts it this way: “In him we live and move and have our being.”

More

The Small Catechism – part 116

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Genesis 1:1

We confess that God is the creator of it all. In the beginning, he made the skies and the land, the heavens and the earth, and by this we mean to say, the universe — everything.

More

The Small Catechism – part 115

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Psalm 115:3

When we confess that God is almighty, we are saying something more than that he is strong. This confession also declares that what is impossible with people is possible with God.

More

The Small Catechism – part 114

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: Matthew 6:9

We believe in God as our Father. He is a good Father, having provided all we need in this life. But he is more than a dispenser of goods.

More
Click Here For Teaching Archives - Table View