What Does This Mean?

That’s just an attention-grabbing title.  I absolutely DID NOT have a vision from God.  But, I spoke with a person who claims just that.  Not only that they had a vision.  But, that the vision exposed Jesus’ will for Christians.  Furthermore, they were to share with revelation with everybody.

Now, you might wonder what this matters to us.  It is a direct concern for Christianity in our constant plight to seek only truth and purge error.  The summary, rule, and norm of the Christian faith is the Holy Scriptures.  Everything we believe teach and confess flows from that.  The bible is also the cornerstone upon which heresy is dashed to pieces.

You may recall a story from a brother or sister in Christ, who had a positive, christianish supernatural experience.  Maybe they felt the passing of the presence of a loved one, who had just died miles away.  Perhaps, there was a vision of an angel.  Or, they may have had a near-death experience seeing deceased loved-ones and Jesus. These dreams or visions have internally consistent proofs.

The loved ones look and speak like themselves.  The angels are warm and loving.  The Jesus just looks perfectly peaceful.  They appear in a lighted scene, surrounded by light, clouds, or unidentified people.

The errors abound.  Grandma and Grandpa in a loving embrace in a place where “they neither marry nor are given away in marriage.” (Mark 12:25)  The appearance of angels that aren’t terrifying like all of the ones in the scriptures.  A Jesus recognizable by His warmth or something, instead of His wounds. (John 20:24-29)

When pressed, the vision/dream reporters will say some thing like, “I just knew.”  Or, “I felt this over whelming peace.”  Or, “I knew it was Him when he spoke.”  All the proofs are internal.  The technical term for this is “self-referential.” You cannot refute a truth that doesn’t have an external proof or source.  My feelings, sensations, or internally secret knowledge are above reproach.

What’s the harm?  You might ask.  I pray there is none.  And, I’m quick to give this option.  It was the pious imagination of a Christian expecting to see good things.  The good things aren’t right in your imagination.  But, no harm, no foul, ja? I recently had an interaction of a darker sort with a person.  Their identity will remain hidden to conceal their sin.

The person said, “My being in the presence of the LORD happened [in a near death event], and Jesus Christ was in front of me, with arms outstretched, face aglow with love, welcoming me. The scene was like the garden of Gethsemane and the tree branches formed a tunnel; I experienced a peace beyond words. Jesus was emanating a soft, warm glow … People I knew were there, and some I didn’t, and they were so content, just standing together, waiting I suppose for the new Earth.”

This has many of the hallmarks of a vision/dream as we’ve heard before.  The warmth, the glow, the people, the tranquil scene, and the sense of peace. So far this isn’t horribly bad.  It’s prob’ly untrue.  But, there’s no harm just yet.

Buckle up, buttercup! The person next said, “Jesus was emanating a soft, warm glow and without moving his lips, I received kind of a blast of information, and I also got a glimpse of Heaven.  People I knew were there, and some I didn’t, and they were so content, just standing together, waiting I suppose for the new Earth.  In the midst of them was my [gay uncle, who] loved the LORD.”

Now, we’re entering the danger zone.  This unscarred “jesus” speaks without words.  He’s delivering secret knowledge.  Put your Christian ear protection on quickly in these situations. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)  Nothing in the scriptures is wrong, outmoded, or abrogated.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:1-3)  Everything claiming Christianity must agree with the Word of God and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior.

“And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—  when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)  Be on guard, test visions, dreams, or prophecies with the scriptures.

Any claimed Jesus or angel will never speak against the revealed Word. If this “jesus” doesn’t look like the revealed Jesus, bearing the marks of your salvation by which He’s know, be on guard. If this “jesus” disagrees with the actual Jesus, beware.

The person then said, “The first thing Jesus Christ said was ‘you don’t have to be perfect’, and that He isn’t concerned about sexuality; He accepts those who know Him as their LORD and Savior and his concern is about self righteousness , and the lack of love we have for one another.” Is this consistent with what Jesus actually said? No, it’s not.

Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”  You do have to be perfect, if you expect to earn salvation.  Jesus was perfect, without sin or error.  Ministering to sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes, He forgave their sin.  And He told them to “sin no more.”

St. Paul also teaches in the Word of God at the end of his lengthy diatribe about salvation by faith not works, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:31)

This person specifically attacked Leviticus for condemning homosexuality, which is true.  It’s is God’s Word and it does.  But, does the New Testament speak that way too?  Let’s test the spirits.  “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)  Homosexuality is specifically included in the list of vices from which Christians must flee.

St. Paul also teaches in the Word of God according to 1 Timothy 1:8-11 “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”

When, not if, we transgress the Law, we remain in need of forgiveness and the command “Go and Sin no more.”  Love can never embrace or encourage sin of any sort.  Homosexuality is absolutely included here.  In forgiveness, we are to turn away from it like all other sin and vice.

The person finally said, “After being in His presence on another occasion, I was compelled to somehow get that message, which isn’t some new revelation, across to those around me, including the LCMS.” This wasn’t pious imagination.  This certainly wasn’t Jesus speaking.  This man was likely visited by a demon.  I can say this because the demon’s words are consistent with the Devil’s temptation in the garden.  “[The Serpent/Satan] said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’’?” (Genesis 3:1) If your vision disagrees with scripture, it is false.  This one does.  And, it is false.

But, it sounded “right” from the start.  That’s true danger, dear Christians.  Looking for a revelation from God apart from His revealed Word invites all manner of evil into our hearts and minds.

Now, some visons or dreams may be true.  German Lutheran pastors have been reporting Muslims coming to them because of Jesus’ instruction them in dreams.  Now, these dreams are reported to be troubling and frightening.   In the dreams, Jesus tells them to go to a certain place at a certain time and speak to a certain priest.  In hesitant fear, the people comply, learning about the true Jesus, and converting to Christianity.

That conversion can be a death sentence. The difference here is that the dream leads directly to the external truth.  The Jesus in these dreams tells the dreamers to go to where they will learn of Him.  No secrets or hidden truths are given; just a command: go and hear.

In many and various ways, God spoke to his people of old by the prophets.

But now in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. (Hebrews 1:1-2a; LSB 238)

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
And
Mission Planting Pastoral team
Epiphany Lutheran Church, Bastrop, TX

©2023 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Encore Post: Shortly after she joined her son Constantine’s Roman imperial household, she came to faith in Christ. Her son commissioned her to tour the holy lands and identify places connected with the life and ministry of Jesus. From 326-328 AD, she toured Syria and Palestine at the empire’s expense, interviewing residents and Christian leaders to learn what she could. Almost all the sites on modern tours were identified by her. She had churches built on the location of the birth of Jesus and his ascension.

On the spot traditionally believed to be his tomb, a pagan Roman emperor had a temple built to Jupiter. Helena had it demolished and excavated. According to tradition, on September 14th, there she found the remains of the cross on which Christ died. At the command of Constantine, a basilica was constructed that by and large remains to this day. It was dedicated on September 14th. From that day forward, the Christian Church has celebrated September 14 as Holy Cross Day.

Lutherans favor this minor festival because it calls attention to the means of our salvation. On the cross, the wisdom of God defeats all the wisdom of human beings. Our modern scientism insists something is not real unless it can be measured. You have to be able to see it, touch it, taste it, hear it or smell it — directly or by instruments we can sense. So a God who is invisible cannot be real. Our contemporary focus on feelings makes us the center of the universe. My truth is real for me, your truth is true for you. My feelings are king. If I am convinced I am female although I am objectively male, no one may contradict me. A God who makes me and redeems me offends me. Our spirituality, which makes only abstract, mystical thoughts valid, is offended by the idea that God who made the world would become man, much less die for us. The idea that we have anything to be forgiven is itself foolish.

Yet God’s wisdom is wiser than the wisdom of humanity. God is not the watchmaker, who made the world, wound it up and lets it do its work. He is not a high God who leaves the world to its own devices. God loved us, got down on his hands and knees to fashion us from the dust and breathe life into us. Knowing we would sin and be lost forever left on our own, he chose us to be his and rigged things so that we would be saved. In the person of Jesus Christ, he became a man, lived the perfect life he demands in our place, suffered and died to pay for our sins and rose again so that one day he will call us from our graves to live forever.

So it is that we preach Christ crucified and glory in it, because it is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
  Fort Wayne, Indiana 

©2020 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Oftentimes, I have found that campus ministry is full of gimmicks and feels like a bait-and-switch. Either congregations ignore their campus (campuses are becoming less and less aligned with LCMS teachings) or they sacrifice the Confessions and good practice for the sake of bringing in “the youth.” What good is a campus ministry if it leads to open communion? What benefit is a campus ministry to the students if it is fluffy, full of activity but void of study?

It takes some doing, but campus ministries can be thriving and congregations can be confessional. Perhaps in my case, I serve in an unusual context. At Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, the students are focused and hard-working (or they are fooling me). The students go home most weekends to go work on the farm with dad. The campus serves as an apprenticeship, as on-the-job training, and experience and internships are abundant locally, rather than far off places with no connection to campus.

How then does a congregation do campus ministry if the students are gone on the weekends? It is necessary to host week day events. And that could be part of our success. We are not expecting regular church attendance; we focus on the Word of God and prayer throughout the week. And it is my hope that I can serve as a counselor of sorts for the students rather than the secular counsel they will receive on the campus.

“Every campus ministry is different” and “every congregation is unique.” Boy, how I get tired of that excuse that allows churches to do whatever they want. I don’t have the answers yet, but we need to discuss these matters and I hope this article is a good place to start. If the confessional congregations do not engage their universities, we are missing out on a ripe harvest field. If other congregations become like their universities, then the church becomes the world, and it is not a good witness of our faith.

Can campus ministries be confessional? I hope so, and I think so. Let us strive for that.

The Lord be with you,

Rev. James Peterson
St. John
Curtis, Nebraska

©2023 James Peterson. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

I’ve recently written two articles. First, the LCMS and those in our global fellowship are the only right teaching church. And, some non-Lutherans will surely go to heaven, but we’ll all be Lutheran in heaven. Now, there are folks calling themselves Christians who will not go to heaven.

False Teachers and those who firmly believe their demonstrably false teaching are prob’ly not going to heaven.

Concerning diseased trees who will be known by their bad fruits, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus says about false teachers, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6) We are all to trust what we hear like little children, trust the words of our father and mother. But woe to those leading any astray. The depths of the sea are for Satan and His minions, miscreants, and myrmidons. “Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea.” (Revelation 18:21a) The Dragon, the great serpent, who is the Devil belongs there in the sea.

Francis Pieper warns strongly about continually, knowingly, teaching falsely because others have done the same. “Over against such notions we need to perceive clearly and to maintain firmly that the “felicitous inconsistency,” through which by the grace of God an erring Christian is kept from losing his personal faith, in no way extenuates the error, much less legitimizes it. Those who defend their false teaching by citing the case of pious erring fathers are reminded by Luther of a possible eventuality: they follow the pious fathers indeed, but will not be with them at the end. Teaching in the House of God, the church, is a most serious matter. The teachers of the church must never forget: 1. Scripture nowhere gives any man the license to deviate in any point from God’s Word.”

Point one is very clear. When God’s Word refutes the existence of female “pastors,” the denial of infant faith, the denial of the real physical presence of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in the Lord’s Supper, the denial of two genders given to us by God from creation, the denial of Jesus’ full forgiveness by the words of your pastor, and the like, there is no room in Christianity for a false teacher unless they repent and turn from their sin. Yet false teachers persist in their refuted error.

“… 2. Every departure from the Word of Christ, as found in the Word of His Apostles, is expressly designated an offense. Romans 16:17: ‘Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.’” When we hear false teachers, we must call out the error. Furthermore, we must also withdraw ourselves and our families from the false teaching.

“… 3. Everyone who rejects the testimony of scripture concerning one doctrine, actually, though he is not fully aware of it, invalidates the Christian principle of [inerrancy].” It is impossible to deny a “small area” of doctrine. All of the scriptures are breathed out by God. There is no shady spot for a teacher, a student of God’s Word, to hide themselves in a known rejection of God’s Word.

“… 4. Finally, we should always bear in mind that, like sin in the sphere of morality, so every error in the sphere of doctrine has the tendency to spread and to infect other doctrines with its virus.” The false teaching of false teachers is an infection in Christianity. It spreads like a virus, damaging all the tissues in the Body of Christ that it touches. The only solutions for Christianity are avoidance, treatment, or surgery. (All four quotes: Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, Volume I, p. 89-91, © 1950, CPH, St. Louis, MO)

Avoidance keeps us and our families away from the infection of false teaching. Treatment seeks to cure the infection with repentance and renewal in the faith, away from false teaching. Surgery severs us from the false teaching/teachers by removing them from us and our families.

Stay tuned, there is still more: does a “Christian Church” exist?

Close your ears to false teachers, dear Christians.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
And
Mission Planting Pastoral team
Epiphany Lutheran Church, Bastrop, TX

©2023 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Some of you who have followed this blog have read my earlier series “A Walk Through the Liturgy.” I enjoyed writing that series very much as it helped me articulate what I deemed (and still deem) to be some of the more important aspects of why we do what we do in the worship services within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. But there are other things we can do to help us remember what we have heard in the service and get a better feel for the lectionary and church year in general.

As a confirmation student, I had to do sermon notes. Many of you probably had to do something similar. As a pastor, I have tweaked the formula. The entire service should demand our attention, because sometimes a sermon can be a dud. Thanks be to God that we hear His Word read, and that we are not reliant upon a sermon alone to receive the gifts of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the entire service through which we receive Christ’s gifts!

So what do I do? I encourage my confirmation students and members to read my “Walk Through the Liturgy,” but then I require worship sheets to be filled out by confirmation students. It is meant to help them get more out off the service, and it should help Moms and Dads lead discussions about what happened in the worship service.

My questions begin with church year and colors. Then I ask about their favorite hymn from the service. Then I ask for a summary of the readings of the day. I don’t want it to be a paragraph. I am only asking for a single sentence for each of the main readings for the day. Then I ask if they find anything that connects the readings together. Again, its not supposed to be a long answer. I want the students to be reading their catechisms in full to help the next question. I also try to make some connection explicitly in my sermon. The same goes for the questions concerning the connections between the readings. Only after these questions do I ask the standard “Law/Gospel” questions for the sermon.

These worship notes are designed to help people of all ages to better retain what they have heard and learned from worship. As attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, consider making your own sheets. While I am not gifted in design, my wonderful wife helped make a sheet that is confined to one sheet of paper. Again, these aren’t supposed to be long treatises, but they can be tailored to your own desires. Over the course of time, you might make other connections you didn’t make the year before, or you might see the same hymn sung on the same Sunday year after year. But why not take up a more active listening role in the pews, so you get as much out of the service as your pastor and organist put into as they planned the hymns around the readings of the day along with the Sacraments of our Lord.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2023 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Do you think only Lutherans are going to heaven?

On the heels of my writing that the LCMS and those in our global fellowship are the only right teaching church, folks will hastily and uncharitably say things like, “I bet you think only Lutherans are going to heaven!”  or “Pastor’s gonna be surprised that there aren’t only Lutherans in Heaven.”

Of course, that’s neither what I believe nor what I teach.  We think of ourselves as smart and witty when popping off like that.  “There you sit, like butter in sunshine,” encumbered in wit neither by speed nor sharpness. (Luther’s Works AE, Volume. 40, p. 252, © CPH, St. Louis, MO)  It’s really just the rude and disrespectful talk over to which our sinful tongues are given.  The eighth and fourth commandments warn us against such idle claptrap.

There will most certainly be Non-LCMS Lutherans in heaven.  We trust here not in the false teachings of other Christian churches.  Instead, we trust in the felicitous inconsistency.  Luther coined the term, but we understand its use better from Francis Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics (Vol. I: p. 6, 72, 84, 87-91; Vol. II: p. 156 © 1950, CPH)

The felicitous inconsistency is a happy accident, a result differing from what false teaching is likely to deliver: unbelief and hell.  The felicitous inconsistency is the teaching in Christianity that where the Word of God is heard, true faith may spring-up in contradiction of false teaching.  This is no guarantee.  It’s our hope and prayer that the Lord grants faith to those who hear and preserves them in that faith.  This hope and prayer flies against the false teaching in heterodox churches.  It isn’t a thing we ought to expect or into which we ought to place our trust.

Loving our family, friends, and neighbors requires us to encourage them away from false teachers and heterodox churches.  Simply being in a “Christian” church is good, but it’s certainly not good enough.  In love, we ought to want our loved ones to hear only right teaching.  We should want the Word of God AND right teaching entering their ears and hearts together rather than simply hoping God will preserve them.

Even in orthodox churches like our LCMS churches, Jesus warning about wheat and tares still holds true (Matthew 13:24-30).   There will still be unbelievers gathered with the faithful until the last day.  Only then the Lord will finally sort us into the fire and into salvation.  Fear not! If this worries you, that’s great news.  The unbelieving tares don’t care about their salvation one bit.  That’s not you.

All that being said, there will certainly be non-LCMS Lutherans in heaven.  But, in heaven we will all finally be Lutheran.  In heaven we will all finally trust in grace alone apart from works.  We will never doubt the salvation won on the cross, delivered in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and sealed with us in the bodily resurrection.  And, there will not be one unbeliever among us.

Hang tight, there’s more to be said about this felicitous inconsistency concerning the false teachers too. In Christ all will finally be one, just not quite yet.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
And
Mission Planting Pastoral team
Epiphany Lutheran Church, Bastrop, TX

©2023 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

When you think of “Worship,” what do you see in your mind’s eye? What do you associate with the term? Do you see “pomp and circumstance”? Do you see a well ordered ritual activity? Do you see hymns and songs of praise? That is all fine and good. But none of that conveys what worship really is.

Worship is reliance, at least that is what Luther and the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church convey. It also is part of the first commandment. “You shall have no other gods,” implies that there is nothing or anyone else upon whom we ought to rely for the needs of body and soul or for the things which lead to everlasting life.

In the Old in particular we have a few instances were the Lord God wants Israel simply to be silent as He works to save them. Exodus 14:14 is a prime example. Israel need only to be silent while the Lord fights for them. Abraham and Sarah are also another example even earlier in the Pentateuch. In their situation, rather than relying solely on the Lord and waiting for Him to act. Sarai persuaded Abraham to take Hagar as a surrogate of sorts. Sarai sought to short-circuit the promise of God and bring it about in a quicker fashion. That is not relying on God. That is not proper worship of the Lord. To worship Him properly is to rely upon Him. What is proper worship is seen in the woman who seeks out Jesus when her daughter is oppressed by a demon. She relies on any word that Jesus speaks. She does not expect a full meal, but merely a bit of the crumbs of His mercy. She lives and breathes that come from the very Word of God made flesh. The woman worships Jesus as she relies upon Him to do what He has promised to do, which is to save her and her daughter from eternal death.

That is why Jesus is adamant when He cries out to those who are weak to come to him so they would have rest. He cries out that He is the bread of life. He is the one that one drinks from in order to have life. He wants you to rely upon Him for your very life!

Since He has accomplished your salvation, receive it from Him. Seek out His absolution. Seek the preaching of His Word. Pray ‘Give us this day our daily bread,” and mean it. To rely upon Him for mercy is to trust Him and His promises. To trust Him is to worship Him. Jesus always delivers what we need for both body and life. Hence, we too can and should see relying upon Jesus as worship of Him.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2023 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

I frequently get some version of this question, “Do you really think the Lutheran Church* is the only right church?” (*the LCMS and those Lutherans in our global fellowship)

Yes, I do.  And, you ought to thank the Lord if your pastor isn’t some unfaithful, vow-breaking squish, who believes one thing and says another.  Summer is the season of installations and ordinations in the LCMS.  Nearly every weekend from mid-June through August, there will be such an event at an LCMS congregation.  The Vows taken by your pastor and the others like him are these:

“Do you believe and confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice?  Yes, I believe and confess the canonical Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.” (LSB Agenda, p. 165)

What does this mean?  This means that the Christian faith must never embrace what scripture condemns and never condemn what scripture extolls.  There are a good number of Christian churches and pastors falling outside of this first vow.  Anyone denying infant Baptism or infant faith, denies scripture’s plain teaching.  Anyone denying Baptismal regeneration, denies the scriptures.  Anyone denying the forgiveness of sins and the true, bodily presence of Jesus in Holy Communion, denies the Word of God.  Anyone engaged in the ordination of women into the Holy Ministry, despises the Word of God.  Anyone teaching the re-sacrifice of Jesus in the mass, rejects the scriptures.  This list is far from exhaustive.

“Do you believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds, namely, the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, as faithful testimonies to the truth of the Holy Scriptures, and do you reject all the errors which they condemn?  Yes, I believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds because they are in accord with the Word of God.  I also reject all the errors they condemn.” (ibid.)

What does this mean?  All heresies rejected in the creeds, we reject.  In current terms, that means things like the constant, popular, gnostic view of death.  Death is not a release of the soul from the body.  Death is the unnatural, violent separation of soul from body.  Death is not the final destination.  The resurrection of all flesh and the restoration of soul and body together on the last day is the completion of all things promised to Baptized Christians.  Also, the creeds may not be rejected by Christians, as some do (Joel Osteen, many Baptists, et al).

“Do you confess the unaltered Augsburg Confession to be a true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church?  And do you confess that the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord—as these are contained in the Book of Concord—are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith?  Yes, I make these confessions my own because they are in accord with the Word of God.” (LSB Agenda, p. 166)

What does this mean?  This is where the rubber meets the road.  The Lutheran Confessions are correct in their entirely.  Lutheran Pastors vow this BECAUSE they are the right exposition of and in accord with the Word of God.  As stated above, we can identify errors in other Christian confessions.  In my short 47 years upon the Earth, I have neither discovered an error in our confessions, nor been shown one.  If I or any other Lutheran pastor were convinced of such an error, we would be bound by the first vow to the scriptures alone to fight ceaselessly and publicly against the error, or leave the Lutheran Confession.

“Do you promise that you will perform the duties of your office in accordance with these Confessions, and that all your preaching and teaching and your administrations of the sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions?  Yes, I promise, with the help of God.” (ibid.)

What does this mean?  All Lutheran pastors are bound by these vows to conform themselves to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions of the Unaltered Book of Concord (1580 AD).  We must condemn what they condemn and extoll what they extoll.  There is no wiggle room or lateral movement.  Lutheran pastors are or are not faithful.

Christians teaching a different confession are in error.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
And
Mission Planting Pastoral team
Epiphany Lutheran Church, Bastrop, TX

©2023 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

1 — Lutheran theology teaches that worship is Divine Service (In German, Gottesdienst). God comes to us to give us his gifts: He puts his name on us (Invocation), forgives our sins in confession and absolution. He creates and strengthens our trust in him to keep his promises in the reading, reciting, preaching of his word in sermons and song. He gives us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in the Lord’s Supper, where he gives us his body with bread to eat and his blood with wine to drink. We respond in thanksgiving with our praise, offerings and the dedication of our lives to his service.

2 — Because God is absolutely holy and we are sinners, we cannot stand in his presence and live. So, because he loves us, while we are still living in a sinful world, God comes to us wearing masks. He became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Before his birth, he appeared in the form of the Angel of the Lord. He spoke to us through his prophets. He gives his grace through means — His Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and absolution. He uses the voice and the hands of men he calls to be Pastors to draw us to him, to sustain our faith and escort us to the hands of the angels who will carry us on our last day to be with Jesus forever. In Divine Worship, he literally comes to us, especially in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Supper, where he is really present to gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2023 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com