Gospel Reset Bible Class, Pt.21: The Wrap-up

Posted on August 29, 2019August 27, 2019 by luther

In the beginning there was a distinction between the Creator and His Creation. Yet at a point in time “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). The divine second person of the Trinity took up a human nature and manifested Himself to our human senses. This God-Man appointed Apostles to be His eyewitnesses, particularly of His resurrection from the dead. Through this empirical evidence of the Apostolic witnesses we are directed to believe that Jesus is the promised Christ and receive life in His name. Strict apologetics (the scientific validation of Scriptural truth) is quite limited to the knowledge that there is a god who also demands moral behavior. From there, we must quickly move on to the revealed knowledge which tells us who God is, what He has done, and what His will is toward us. Revealed knowledge creates faith in the promise of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, human reason, natural law, logic and philosophy can be employed within the sphere of the senses. Although apologetics and existential proofs for God are valid, the real “search” for God begins with the incarnation. Luther uses the account of Jacob’s ladder(Gen 28) to teach us not to approach heaven by human reason speculating about the divine majesty, instead we are to embrace the incarnated Jesus Christ as presented in the Word. “There is no other God than this Man Jesus Christ”(LW 26:29). John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The New Testament is a confirmation of the historical Jesus just as it was promised in the Old Testament. “We have the prophetic word confirmed…” (2 Peter 1:19-21).

The individual Christian and the incarnate Christ live in both kingdoms simultaneously. It is within the vocations of the three estates that we see the proper use of apologetics. It is used by parents in teaching and raising children to serve society and the church. If parents employ teachers to help them in their God-given task, then they need to be on guard against those who would deny not only natural knowledge, but revealed knowledge as well. Individual Christians must speak up for the historicity of the Scriptures and the truthfulness of the Word of God. And, yes, we need to beware of philosophy and empty deceit (Col 2:8) and cast down any arguments which exalt themselves beyond its proper sphere(2 Cor 10:4-5). But ultimately we must present the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. The substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins is the only saving message of truth. If the hearer is offended by the cross of Christ or thinks that its message is foolishness, then so be it. There is no other name by which we must be saved.

Handouts 1:The Search for God Begins with the Incarnation.pdf
Handouts 2: Lutheranism-and-the-defense-of-the-Christian-Faith-Montgomery.pdf
Overhead 1: Overheads-Aug-25-2019.pdf

Full document cited in this lesson:
http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/montgomerychristianapologetics.pdf
http://www.blts.edu/wp-content/uploads/lsq/11-1.pdf

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38A Creation: What God’s Word Instructs

Posted on August 28, 2019June 18, 2019 by luther

“1. Contend for the Faith: Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).
2. Give answers for what you believe: …but in your heart honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).
3. Preach the Gospel: And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15) (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.87).

#53 Godly Parents Break Their Children’s Sinful Will

Posted on August 25, 2019June 18, 2019 by luther

2. This work appears easy, yet few see it rightly. For where the parents are truly godly and love their children not just in human fashion, but (as they ought) instruct and direct them by words and works to serve God in the first three commandments, then in these eases the child’s own will is constantly broken. The child must do, not do, or put up with whatever his own nature would gladly have otherwise. Because of this he finds occasion to despise his parents, murmur against them, or worse. Love and fear depart when God’s grace is not there. Likewise, when parents quite properly—though at times unjustly—punish and chastise, the soul’s salvation is not imperiled; the evil nature is just unwilling to accept it. Besides all this, some are so wicked as to be ashamed of their parents because of their poverty, lowly birth, ugliness, or dishonor, and allow these things to influence them more than the high commandment of God, who is above all things and who has, with benevolent intent, given them such parents, to exercise and try them in his commandment. But the matter becomes still worse when the child in turn has children of his own. Then love for them increases, while the love and honor due to the parents declines.

But what is said and commanded of parents must also be understood of those who, when the parents are dead or not there, take their place, such as friends, relatives, godparents, temporal lords, and spiritual fathers. For everybody must be ruled and subject to other men. So we see here again how many good works are taught in this commandment, for in it all our life is made subject to other men. That is the reason obedience is so highly praised, and all virtue and good works are included in it” (Luther’s Works, v. 44 p.82).

37A Creation: Not as Bad as it Was

Posted on August 21, 2019June 18, 2019 by luther

“I don’t think the culture is as bad as it was in the days of Noah. The Bible makes it clear that only eight people went through the door of the Ark to be saved…. Now we do have rampant sin in our culture. And in many ways, I believe Romans 1 is a description of what is happening in our Western World…. Even though there is increasing Christian persecution throughout the world and the sin of abortion and rejection of God’s Word concerning marriage and gender is rampant, our culture is not yet like it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember, God would have saved Sodom if there were ten righteous people—but there weren’t even ten!” (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.87).

Gospel Reset Bible Class, Pt. 20: Moving Forward 3

Posted on August 20, 2019August 20, 2019 by luther

“Of all the religious beliefs in the world, past or present, none have more thoroughly based themselves on history than Judaism and Christianity. the divine-human encounter in the biblical faith always involves claims about real people, living in real places, who acted in real events in the past, many of which are also cited in secular history. …Judeo-Christianity’s Scripture encompass a two-thousand-year-plus period–two millennia in which its holy books constantly interlaced themselves with history” (“In the Fullness of Time” by Paul L. Maier, Introduction p. xv). Human reason is competent to examine history and history’s artifacts.

Ken Ham explains the difference between observation science (sometimes called experimental science) and historical science (sometimes called origins science). Scientific explanations are appropriate for observable facts, but scientific explanations concerning origin are not verifiable. Science has exceeded its ability for knowledge. If reason would remain within its sphere, then there would be no contradiction with theology. Nevertheless, reason often assumes a position of antagonism to revealed truth (Heinrich Schmid). If an unbeliever refuses plain evidence and denies logic, we learn man’s real reason for denying the truth.

Many of the passages which are used as proof texts for a scientific defense of the truth (apologetics), only prove that Christians ought to use the Scriptures to “give a reason for the hope that is within them” (1 Peter 3:15) and to “contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3). There are two passages which tell Christians to beware of human reason going beyond its sphere(Col 2:8). We are told to pull down everything which exalts itself about the knowledge of God in the Holy Scriptures (2 Cor 10:4-5).

Overheads: Overheads-for-Aug-18-2019.pdf
Handout from August 11 (grey): Naturalism-Presuppositions.pdf
Handout for August 18 (white): Science-and-the-Bible-for-Aug-18-2019.pdf

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#52 Honor is More Than Love

Posted on August 18, 2019June 18, 2019 by luther

The first work is that we should honor our own father and mother. This honoring does not consist in merely showing them all deference. It means that we obey them, have regard for what they do and what they say, esteem them highly, give way to them, and accept what they say. It means that we endure their treatment of us without complaint, so long as it is not contrary to the first three commandments, and, in addition, provide them with food, clothing, and shelter when they are in need. For it is not without purpose that he has said, “Thou shalt honor them.” He does not say, “Thou shalt love them,” although it means that as well. But honor is higher than mere love, and includes within it a kind of fear which unites with love and has such an effect upon a man that he fears offending them more than he fears the ensuing punishment. It is just as there is fear in the honor we pay a holy place, and yet we do not flee from it as from a punishment, but draw all the more near to it. True honor is such a fear mingled with love. The other kind of fear that is without love is the fear of those things which we despise or avoid, e.g., the fear of the hangman or of punishment. There is no honor in that, for it is fear without love: in fact, it is a fear mixed with hatred and hostility. We have a proverb of St. Jerome about this: What we fear, we also hate. God does not want to be feared or honored with that kind of fear, nor does he want our parents honored with this kind of fear, but rather with the first kind, the kind mingled with love and confidence” (Luther’s Works, v. 44 p.81).

Book of Concord Bible Study Starts September 1, 2019

Posted on August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 by luther

Dust off your Book of Concord and start reading. Sunday, September 1, we will begin a new 9-month Bible study on the Book of Concord.

You keep saying that you are going to read through it. Well, here is your chance.
I have provided a reading guide, so your new Adam can whack that recalcitrant old Adam with it each day.
“The Lutheran Church differs from all other churches in being essentially the Church of the pure Word and unadulterated Sacraments. Not the great number of her adherents, not her organizations, not her charitable and other institutions, not her beautiful customs and liturgical forms, etc., but the precious truths confessed by her symbols in perfect agreement with the Holy Scriptures constitute the true beauty and rich treasures of our Church, as well as the never-failing source of her vitality and power. Wherever the Lutheran Church ignored her symbols or rejected all or some of them, there she always fell an easy prey to her enemies. But wherever she held fast to her God-given crown, esteemed and studied her confessions, and actually made them a norm and standard of her entire life and practice, there the Lutheran Church flourished and confounded all her enemies. Accordingly, if Lutherans truly love their Church, and desire and seek her welfare, they must be faithful to her confessions and constantly be on their guard lest any one rob her of her treasure” (Concordia Triglotta, p.3).

The following is a reading guide (through December) for those who would like to read along with us.
Reading Guide for Tappert, Kolb, English only of Triglotta, Concordia Reader’s Edition: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-1-Page-1-2.pdf
Reading Guide for Triglotta, Jacobs, Henkel, Die BekenntnisSchriften, Tappert, Kolb: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-2-pages-1-2.pdf

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Gospel Reset Bible Class, Pt. 19: Moving Forward 2

Posted on August 15, 2019August 14, 2019 by luther

With this class, we continue looking at the “Four Points Raised in John Warwick Montgomery’s article, ‘Christian Apologetics in the Light of the Lutheran Confessions.’” Today’s class looks at points three and four.

3. After the fall, man has a bound will in spiritual matters (Ephesians 2:1, “dead in trespasses and sins.”) Nevertheless, man still has freedom of the will in non-spiritual matters. “The human will has liberty in the choice of works and things which reason comprehends by itself…. There is left in human nature reason and judgment concerning objects subjected to the senses.” The believer and unbeliever share a common ground of logic and fact. What are we to make of those who have reason and judgment and yet come to the illogical conclusion that there is no god(Psalm 14:1), etc.? They are fools. “…The power of concupiscence is such that men more frequently obey evil dispositions than sound judgment. And the devil, who is efficacious in the godless, as Paul says, Eph. 2, 2, does not cease to incite this feeble nature to various offenses” (Ap XXVIII Free Will, 70-71).

4. Apart from the power and efficacy of the Holy Spirit, man is neither enlightened nor converted. Therefore, we must confess that none of the capacities of the unregenerate man(human reason, the knowledge which it can obtain, apologetics) permit him to mend his broken relationship with God. Apologetics can reveal that man doesn’t know God, lacks righteousness, and doesn’t know God’s will toward man. Thus, God the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace in order to create and strengthen faith, “… neither preacher nor hearer is to doubt this grace and efficacy of the Holy Ghost, but should be certain that when the Word of God is preached purely and truly, according to the command and will of God, and men listen attentively and earnestly and meditate upon it, God is certainly present with His grace, and grants, as has been said, what otherwise man can neither accept nor give from his own powers” (FC SD II 55). Furthermore the Word is not efficacious through the recitation of syllables, as if Scripture were a magic spell. If the Word is twisted to a false interpretation, it abolishes the righteousness of faith. The Holy Spirit works through the perspicuous teaching of the Word so that man is brought to the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of that Word that we are saved by grace through faith in the work and person of Jesus Christ. “No sane man can judge otherwise…” (Ap IV 254).

Outline for today’s lesson: Apologetics-Moving-Forward.pdf
Book of Concord References for today’s lesson: Apologetics-Part-2-for-Aug-4-2019.pdf
Handout from July 21: Apologetics-Definition-a.pdf Page 2 has outline of Four Points Raised…

Note: Sunday, September 1, we will begin a new 9-month Bible study on the Book of Concord. The following is a reading guide (through December) for those who would like to read along with us.

Reading Guide for Tappert, Kolb, English only of Triglotta, Concordia Reader’s Edition: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-1-Page-1-2.pdf

Reading Guide for Triglotta, Jacobs, Henkel, Die BekenntnisSchriften, Tappert, Kolb: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-2-pages-1-2.pdf

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36A Creation: Doing the Lord’s Bidding

Posted on August 14, 2019June 18, 2019 by luther

“No matter what’s going on in the culture, we need to be doing what God has clearly instructed us to do. We’re to be about the business of the King, preaching the Gospel, giving answers, and contending for the faith (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15; Jude 1:3). “…but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15, NASB).” (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.85).

Gospel Reset Bible Class, Pt. 18: Apologetics Moving Forward

Posted on August 13, 2019August 14, 2019 by luther

In previous classes we have defined Apologetics as the scientific validation of the truth and absoluteness of the Christian religion against unbelief on the basis of human reason and science. We previously looked at 1 Peter 3:15 and Jude 1:3, but these came up short as proof texts to support apologetics. It would seem that the right use and limits for apologetics may be a bit more complex. The use of human reason in apologetics is able to judge correctly in the things of this world. Based on creation and conscience, apologetics can reveal that there is a God, who makes a distinction between right and wrong. Nevertheless, apologetics cannot discover the will of God or validate “the truth and absoluteness of the Christian religion.”

Beginning with this class, we will look at the “Four Points Raised in John Warwick Montgomery’s article, ‘Christian Apologetics in the Light of the Lutheran Confessions.’” Today’s class looks at points one and two. 1. Man cannot “by his own reason or strength” accomplish or make any advance toward his salvation. Nevertheless, we do use human reason in a ministerial way when we use the laws of language to discover God’s will in the revealed knowledge of God. 2. History is a proper subject for apologetics. The Christian faith is a historical religion that correctly describes reality. Although faith is not merely knowledge, it does include historical knowledge of what the Triune God has done in history (combined with the promise concerning those facts). “Therefore it is not enough to believe that Christ was born, suffered, was raised again, unless we add also this article, which is the purpose of the history: The forgiveness of sins” (Ap IV, What Is Justfiying Faith, 51).

Note: Sunday, September 1, we will begin a new 9-month Bible study on the Book of Concord. The following is a reading guide (through December) for those who would like to read along with us.

Reading Guide for Tappert, Kolb, English only of Triglotta, Concordia Reader’s Edition: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-1-Page-1-2.pdf

Reading Guide for Triglotta, Jacobs, Henkel, Die BekenntnisSchriften, Tappert, Kolb: Book-of-Concord-Reading-2019-2020-Chart-2-pages-1-2.pdf

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