Uncategorized – Page 48 – What Does This Mean?

Creator of Heaven and Earth

“In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” are the first words in the Bible. “I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth …” we confess in our creeds. At the heart and center of all we believe is the fact that God made the universe — including us. This teaching is the foundation of everything else that we believe. The whole structure of Christian faith depends upon it, from the authority of God’s word to the doctrine of salvation by grace. Because God is the Creator and he loves us, we can live at peace. Nothing can harm us eternally because He protects us. If he is not the Creator, than we are on our own in the face of evil.

Like much of the Christian Faith, the conviction that God is the Creator of all things is a axiom — an idea that is assumed to be true. Strictly speaking, we do not try to prove that the God of Holy Scripture is the Creator. We take God’s word for it. We might argue from the evidence of the orderliness of the universe that a Creator exists, but we cannot use the evidence in the material world to identify his as the God we trust.

Some non-Christians will argue that this faith is a weakness. It is not based upon observation of the physical world and logical explanations of the data found there. (In other words, we do not use science to prove it) Yet everyone who tries to explain how the world came to be also use axioms. For example, those who trust scientific theories assume: that the world is an orderly place, that experiments repeated in precisely the same way over and over again will respond with more or less the same results. It assumes that nothing that cannot be seen, touched, tasted, smelled or heard is real.

Everyone, then, relies on beliefs that they conclude explain the world. While we may disagree with each other, discussion requires a certain amount of respect for those with very different faiths,

Friedrich Wyneken’s Indiana Ministry

Settling down to serve St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne and Zion Lutheran Church of Decatur (Nicknamed “Friedheim”) in Northeast Indiana did not stop Friedrich Wyneken, full of zeal, from preaching, teaching and organizing congregations whenever he had the time. He visit other settlements on weekdays and preached in them. The circuit rider felt he could not organize these stations into congregations because mostly they lacked either the sufficient knowledge of the faith or piety (at the time, Friedrich was a pietist — but that’s another story!) and because he simply could not properly care for them.

It broke his heart to have to ignore the many pleas to come and prepare children for confirmation and to meet many desperate needs. In September of 1839, one hundred and eighty years ago, the very frustrated circuit rider reported to Friedrich Schmidt of Pittsburgh that at least five preaching stations lay within forty miles of Fort Wayne. These he visited more or less regularly. In addition, he planned to make at least two larger trips a year to do what he could throughout the region. He could see whole villages sinking back into paganism. He could only promise to return from time to time and tell them of his many letters to Germany, begging for help. On his longer trips, sometimes four to six weeks from home, Wyneken had to depart settlement after settlement, sick with the knowledge that not even a survey missionary would minister in these places for the next few years.

In January of 1840, the circuit rider reported to the American Home Missionary Society that he served two stations beyond his parishes on a regular basis, one nineteen miles and the other thirty miles distant. Sometime during 1840, Wyneken set out for Chicago to help Lutherans who had asked for his help. Weather prevented him from traveling further than Elkhart, where he ministered for a time before returning to Fort Wayne. In 1841, Wyneken reported to his friend Friedrich Schmidt that he so wanted to bring the joy of the Easter season to settlements to his west that he traveled so often that he couldn’t even correspond until he returned to his little Fort Wayne “Elijah’s Room.”

In addition to the congregations and places documented above, the oral traditions in the Northeast corner of Indiana credit Wyneken with ministering at preaching stations that would one day become congregations throughout Allen and Adams Counties, Avilla, Bremen, Corunna, Elkhart, Huntington, Kendallville, Mishawaka and South Whitley in Indiana and Wilshire (“Schumm”) and Wapakoneta, Ohio.

Doctor Luther Publishes his Galatians Lectures

As a professor of theology at Wittenberg University, Luther lectured on the Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians from October of 1516 to March of 1517. With the help of his young friend Philip Melanchthon, working from student notes of the lectures, Luther began to convert the lectures into a proper commentary in March of 1519. Five Hundred years ago this month, Luther’s first commentary on Galatians was published.

The work was very popular. Unlike other commentaries of the time, Luther did not make much use of the four-fold method of understanding Scripture. He tried to determine the meaning intended by St. Paul in each passage. Rather than be content with working from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate generally used by the church, he returned to the original Greek. Like a sermon, he applied the text to the church of the day, not being especially kind to his theological opponents. Yet immediately Luther expressed his dissatisfaction with the work. Over the next decade, Luther would revise the commentary several times. When he lectured on Galatians in 1531, he started from scratch. The result was one of his best works, the Galatians Commentary of 1535.

Luther’s greatest insight in both commentaries have to do with reading the words of the letter with Christ as focus of its message. All of Scripture is about Christ, his work to redeem us by his sufferings and death on the cross. By our own works we cannot save ourselves because we are sinners and deserve damnation. But by God’s grace for the sake of Christ, we are forgiven our sins and granted salvation. With this commentary, Luther came closer to fully understanding the Gospel. Within a few short months, he would write three works in which he fully explains Lutheran theology for the first time.

Sermon on Genesis 2:18-24

Marriage of
Jenna Lynn Witte and Wesley Robert Smith
31 August 2019
Cornerstone Lutheran Church
Carmel, Indiana

Text:^“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” … Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” … Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Intro: Wes, Jenna, friends and family, grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is great day. That one missing piece of the puzzle of your life is found and the picture is now complete. You both have done quite well. You have built successful careers, set up homes, served God and others and achieved what many people strive for. And yet something was missing. And so it was for Adam. God had made him and gave him a perfect life. But it was “not good” God said. So God gave him lots of animals. And that did not do it. Even a dog didn’t do it. That is why He made Eve and why He brings you together today.

Now that you are together, you are never really alone.
1. As you take hold of each other today, you become one.
2. This marriage of yours is the closest you get to understanding the Trinity – two people, yet one, as He is three persons, yet one.
3. Now, even when you are apart from each other, you will be together.

Yet the World, the Devil and your sinful self will try to pull you apart.
1. Sin separated us from God, from our world and each other.
2. Our Old Adam and Old Eve curves us in on ourselves, pulling us apart from God and from others.
3. When we serve ourselves, rather than God, we end up all alone.

To free us from our sin, the Father sent His Son to save us.

“From Heaven Jesus came and sought you …”
1. With his own blood he bought you …”
2. When you were baptized, he washed you clean of sin “by water and the word.”
3. He now brings you, and us, together with God.
4. So even when you are alone, you are never really alone.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, set watch over your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, to life everlasting. Amen.

A Keg full of Beer, a Purse full of Money

The publication of the Bible in everyday language stuck a chord throughout German speaking lands. For the first time in history, middle class families could afford to own a Bible and one they could read with their children! The investment was about what a modern American household spends on a car. Even his opponents recognized the high literary quality of its phrases and sound. Luther translated so it sounded good read out loud. Where his enemies faulted him was where he changed Greek and Hebrew figures of speech and added words not in the original texts to make the result sound like a German wrote it.

While in Coburg Castle waiting for the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, Luther wrote a letter now known as On Translating. In it he explained his method. The goal was to be faithful to the meaning of the original text while making it understandable in German. This is a very difficult thing to do. Translate idioms word for word and it will sound like nonsense. Here is how Luther describes what happens when you translate that way the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary:

When the angel greets Mary, he says, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28) … When does a German speak like that, “You are full of grace”? What German understands what that is, to be “full of grace”? He would have to think of a keg “full of” beer or a purse “full of” money. Therefore I have translated it, “Thou gracious one,” so that a German can at least think his way through to what the angel meant by this greeting … Suppose I had taken the best German, and translated the salutation thus: “Hello there, Mary!”
Martin Luther, On Translating, AE 35:190-191

So the Reformer picked words and figures of speech common in spoken German. No, he didn’t go as far as translate: “Hello, Mary!” He wrote: “Greetings, blessed one!” When Luther translated this way, he overturned much ancient churchly language. Over the centuries the words of translations obscured the gospel and the new translation brought to everyone the discoveries he found when studying the Scripture in their original language. It touched hearts, changed the way people spoke to each other and created in a few short years a standard form of the language. More than anything else, Luther taught scholars to translate and translations that follow were better for it.

Translation is Treason? Tradition?

St. Jerome was born into a wealthy Italian family just a few decades after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. As a young man, he became a Christian and was baptized in his twenties. He devoted himself to study and became a devoted to the monastic life. He was ordained a priest in Constantinople in the 380s and came to serve as the personal secretary of Pope Damascus I. The pope commissioned him to revise the Old Latin translations of the Bible to produce an accurate version of the Scriptures in the common (Vulgatus) language. The finished translation became known as the Vulgate, and eventually became used as the universal translation of the Bible in the Western Christian Church. He is respected as the father of the art of translation and the patron saint of librarians.

St. Jerome, known for his wit, is often given credit for a Latin pun: translatio traditio est. The phrase can mean “translation is treason” or “translation is tradition.” It captures the truth that no translation can perfectly capture the meaning of its original text in another language. A translator simply cannot avoid interpreting the text he or she expresses in a new language. So, in a sense, every translation betrays its original author. Yet without translations, readers would need to learn Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and to some extent Latin to understand the Bible. A good translation “hands down” the text to speakers of other languages.

This is why Lutherans insist that their pastors learn at least Greek and Hebrew. For the most part, the Bible was written in Koine (common) Greek and Biblical Hebrew. This allows them to see what God said without the filter of 2000-3500 years of interpretation. The result is much like watching a TV in high definition color after watching programs in standard black-and-white. It is the same text, but another dimension opens when you see the text as it was written down. They, in turn, have been sent to us by God to “hand down” his word to us.

So, if a person does not have the time or skills to learn these languages, how can you tell if the translation you use is accurate or whether to some extent it is colored by the translator’s views? For English speakers, who are blessed with hundreds of translations in their language, it helps to have several respected versions available. ([http://biblegateway.com)] puts many versions at your fingertips.) When your reading a passage, compare several to each other. If they say more or less the same thing, you know the passage is very clear in the original language. If they differ, ask your pastor to help with it. That way translation will pass down the word of God to you and not lead you astray.

Abraham and His Fear

One day, when God came to visit, Abram appears to be having a crisis. The life of faith in this world is never mountaintop after mountaintop experience. After a time of great triumph and glorifying of God, Abraham is now low. He is worried that God had not given him a son. I do not why this is the case for God’s faithful, perhaps it happens to keep us from getting too puffed up in ourselves. The situation certainly happened to Abram and it still happens to us now.

In such times, we fear that God has abandoned us one way or another or when His promise has faded we should remember this prayer: “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” Only when we are made free from this sinful world by our physical death and brought into the new heaven and new earth on the last day will we finally see the fullness of the things which we hope for in faith, just as Abraham. And so here we are with Abram being told now to fear not. Do not be anxious, but make known your petitions and supplications to the Lord in prayer.

The external word of God is spoken into Abraham’s ears, just as it spoken into your own when you hear your pastor proclaim God’s Word. By God’s grace Abraham had faith in God’s promise, just as you believe in the promises of God. Abraham knew how God had spoken and fulfilled what He promised in the past. The one who speaks is faithful to His Word.

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham received the physical son, Isaac, but as the author of the book of Hebrews and Paul tell us Abraham trusted in the promise of the physical One seed who would come, that being Jesus Christ, who would save Abraham and the whole world from the wrath of sin and eternal death by his own sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus himself tells the Jews that Abraham rejoiced at Jesus’ day. For the city which Abraham desired to enter was not a physical city, but the Holy city of God — the heavenly Jerusalem.

Let’s not be anxious about the trials in our lives, for God does and will provide. He who has spoken is faithful to His Word. Like Abraham, who did not see all the promises fulfilled in his lifetime, let us not fear. Rather let us rejoice in the Lord for what He has done and continues to do for us that we might be considered His children.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

The Rich Fool

How often do we hear that it is our God given right to have everything and more? How often are we told that over-abundance is a thing to strive for? We do not want to have to depend on anyone or anything. We want the American dream, the acres of land, the warm home, the children, and to be left the heck alone. We want to rest and be merry, eating and drinking without cares in the world. And so, we are told the lie that we need to fight and claw for everything we have and make sure that it can never be taken away. “Be on your guard,” says Jesus when he preaches the parable of the rich fool. Covetousness is idolatry. We become the gods we serve.

The rich man had won the game. He was the top dog in this dog eat dog world. Time to relax and be at peace. And we know the rest of the story. His soul would be required of him that very night. And what would become of all that he had collected on the earth?

And while possessions may not be something that gives you trouble, we covet the rest that we see others living in. We want strife to end in our families, etc. We want to eat drink, and be merry. However, more often than not, we find ourselves hungry, afraid, and alone. We covet peace.

Jesus says to be on our own guard. And we should take him to heart. But we should also take heart in his warning. In warning, Jesus shows how deeply he cares for us. He does not want anyone to forfeit the one thing that makes us rich towards God, namely Himself.

Jesus is the one thing that truly matters. He is the one who has won for you and then continues to give you the forgiveness of sins. He is the one who actually has procured rest for you. By His blessed passion and death, He is the one who has not only laid up for us treasure in heaven, but calls you to come to his feast to truly eat, drink, and be merry. So come to the feast thereby guarding yourself against all covetousness, valuing the richness of your Savior Jesus.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

Program Note: Updated Blog Series Page

Program Note: I’ve updated the Blog Post Series page ( https://whatdoesthismean.blog/blog-post-series/ ) to reflect all of our Church Words posts. More to come.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Electronic Resources Librarian
Concordia Theological Seminary
Blog Editor

God’s Delight

We should know Who Wisdom is. God the Father did not create alone; this act of creation was Trinitarian in nature. We know the Spirit was there from Genesis, as the Spirit hovered over the waters. But Wisdom, the eternal Son of God was there and played a critical role. John says in his prologue.

Jesus is Wisdom, the master workman who is the with the Father before the world was created and in whom the Father delights. And Jesus rejoiced before the Father. It was in this joy that the world was created. Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together to bring all things into being and after working those 6 days, on the seventh God called his work very good and rested.

Wisdom is seen rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of men. They are his inheritance after all. Jesus delighted in the children of men prior to the fall. And even in that great fall into sin, joy would be a driving force for God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to bring about man’s redemption and his salvation.

It is sad to consider how many people think God is a momentary fix for a horrifically bad moment in life. A divorce, a flood, whatever it may be. God is only needed when things get extremely bad. That makes God into a very small God. In so doing we make God in our own image, breaking that first commandment, making God fit our own fleeting needs. That is not who God is at all. He is the one who created, redeemed and keeps holy. And you now wish to form Him?

God the Father delights in his Son. Even after the creation fell into sin and was cursed to die for our sins, the Father still loved the Son, because Jesus chose to come, to die for you many sins, and rise for your justification. The author to the Hebrews talks about Jesus this way: “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Joy was driving force. Jesus delights in saving you, that you might be reconciled to His Father in Heaven.

Now, Wisdom has built the Church, calling us to table. Delight in what our Lord delights to give to us: Salvation.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO