Concerning Ecclesiastical Power – part 1
Scripture Text: John 3:16
The Defense of the Augsburg Confession concludes with a word on the power of the church. It insists that the church was corrupt and that this was harmful to the people in the church.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 46
Scripture Text: Isaiah 64:6
May we all come to this understanding: that we despair of any way of life we may have imagined would save us. May we consider all our works as filthy garments...
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 45
Scripture Text: Matthew 5:33–37
These older widows had promised to not remarry so that they could receive assistance from the church. Remarrying was seen as breaking that “oath”—the same word translated as “faith.”
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 45
Scripture Text: 1 John 2:25
It is clear enough from the context that these widows whom Paul spoke of were simply women the Church supported unless they remarried.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 44
Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 4:7–8
We need all the help we can get. No one would deny this to be true. But if the help obscures Christ, it is not help; it is a great evil.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 43
Scripture Text: Galatians 3:22–26
We have a shared promise through Christ since we are all sons of God through faith in him. As such, all believers are joint heirs of the promise made to Christ, the Seed of Abraham.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 42
Scripture Text: 2 Peter 3:15–18
It is remarkably easy to take a verse or two from the Bible and construct a doctrine or a whole way of life. The safeguard to doing this, or falling prey to its adherents, is to, as we say, “be in the Word”—all of God’s Word.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 41
Scripture Text: Titus 3:5
Our works, actions, and lifestyles do not make us right with God. Jesus Christ justifies us before God. This is why faith alone in the grace of God alone merits his forgiveness and salvation.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 40
Scripture Text: Leviticus 5:4–6
Sometimes people make bad decisions. We all do this but one wrong decision should not necessitate a lifetime of poor choices or actions.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 39
Scripture Text: John 14:6
Be sure that your commitments depend upon God’s promises, power, and faithfulness, instead of your own. Be doubly certain that you do not imagine keeping your promises is the way to salvation.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 38
Scripture Text: Mark 7:6–8
Religious acting can take the form of doing worship, that is, not worshiping at all. This often takes the form of a ritual that does not come from the heart.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 37
Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 2:14–16
The Word of God must be proclaimed with clarity, putting useless arguments aside in favor of the gospel. The best way to accomplish this is to cut a straight path through the Scripture.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 36
Scripture Text: Ecclesiastes 5:1–2
Watch your step. When going before God in worship and prayer, we must be very careful. It is easy to walk into false doctrine, hypocrisy, and useless rituals.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 35
Scripture Text: 1 John 5:1–5
Everyone who believes in Christ overcomes the world through faith. There is no need to leave the world in order to do so. There is no need for us to go to additional lengths in order to be forgiven.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 34
Scripture Text: Matthew 9:9
Jesus saw Matthew, a tax collector, and told him to follow: to be his disciple. How would there have been perfection if Matthew continued to sit there?
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 33
Scripture Text: Luke 14:26–27
Are you willing to follow Jesus? If it means you would lose the civil right to buy and sell, to make a living, to provide for your family, would you still follow Jesus?
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 32
Scripture Text: Matthew 5:3
Having no bank account does not aid the spirit, though it may destroy the spirit if one takes pride in the so-called accomplishment of giving up money and property.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 31
Scripture Text: Mark 10:29–30
I have known people who refused to work on Sunday. Some employers understood; others did not. I heard of one man who would not work on the Lord’s Day and as a result, lost his job.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 30
Scripture Text: Matthew 6:33
God does not command certain pietistic practices of giving up property, friends, family, food, and clothing. Indeed, Jesus tells us to not be anxious about such things.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 29
Scripture Text: John 12:25–26
We must not forsake the gospel, even if it means loss of property, family, or even life. What is it that keeps you from following Jesus?
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 28
Scripture Text: Matthew 19:29
God’s commandments forbid the forsaking of parents. Yet in this teaching of Jesus about leaving one’s family—even children—for him, it is clear that Jesus is using hyperbole to make his point.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 27
Scripture Text: 2 Peter 1:3–8
Does our virtuous lifestyle add anything to faith? To be sure, we are to furnish our faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, and brotherly and godly love.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 26
Scripture Text: Philippians 2:3–5
We are not justified before God because of a particular lifestyle, no matter how holy or special it may seem. God is able to make a child holy while that child, as yet, has no occupation.
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 25
Scripture Text: 2 Peter 3:14–18
How may a person of faith be found on that Day “without spot or blemish”? Even more, how may one be certain that their life is so blameless that they are at peace with God?
Concerning Monastic Vows – part 24
Scripture Text: Romans 6:5–8
As we are not made impure by physical things that enter us from the outside, so we do not purge our impurity by doing physical things.
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