# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S292
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

292

II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
on several occasions. Did not God the Lawgiver also say,
“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy” (Lev. 20:26)?
And isn’t the new command given by Jesus to those who
follow Him, “Continually love (ἀγαπᾶτε [agapate]: 2nd
person plural present imperative active) one another, just as
(καθὼς; kathōs) I have loved you”? Luke 10:21–22 has been
called “a meteorite fallen from the Johannine sky” because
Jesus’ words here sound so much like the Jesus we know
from John’s Gospel.3 Those two verses, however, are hardly
alone in building connections between Luke and John. The
parable of the Good Samaritan would be a perfect illustration for a sermon on 1 John 4:13–21, would it not?

He Is Our Righteousness

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,
because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen
and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the
Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the
Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we
have come to know and to believe the love that God has
for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in
God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected
with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of
judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears
has not been perfected in love. We love because he first
loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his
brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother
whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not
seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Leader’s Guide

Session 4:
“Go and Do Likewise”
Luke 10:37

The Final Verse — Luke 10:37

We still have one verse to cover. The first half of verse 37
is the lawyer’s response to Jesus’ concluding question. The
lawyer, who began by wanting to test Jesus, now gets tested
himself. Does he pass the test? Some have pointed out that
the lawyer does not respond simply, “the Samaritan,” and
they take that as an indication that the lawyer’s heart has
not changed much yet.1 Jesus, however, makes no comment
as He had done earlier in response to the lawyer’s answer.
At the center of the parable is the quality of mercy, and the
lawyer’s response does serve to emphasize that point.
And yet, Jesus doesn’t say, “You have answered correctly.
Goodbye.” Jesus adds a command, and, for many, this is the
mortal blow to any attempt to see in the Samaritan a picture
of the Christ. When Jesus tells the lawyer to “go and do
likewise,” isn’t that all the proof we need that Jesus is doing
nothing more than setting before the lawyer the high and
uncompromising standard of the Law?
First of all, this, too, is a correction of the lawyer’s ill-framed
questions. When looking at the lawyer’s “Leading Question
1

No. 1,” we noted the importance of the tense of the participle used in his question. Tense is equally important here —
and equally difficult to see in our English translations. Jesus’
words in Greek are πορεύου καὶ σὺ ποίει ὁμοίως (poreuou
kai sy poiei omoiōs; “you go and you do likewise”). Both of
the imperatives, “you (singular) go!” and “you (singular)
do!” are present imperatives and could be translated “you
be going!” and “you be doing.” As Plummer points out, “It
is no single act, but lifelong conduct that is required.”2 The
lawyer’s “After I have done what?” cannot stand here; the
jailer’s “What must I be doing?” is the only possible question for the sinner to ask.

Plummer, 289.

This is our chief article, the doctrine of faith, which tells
us that we cannot help ourselves, nor can any works
or teaching of the Law, but He must begin it in us. He
does not drive us with the Law if we perceive our sins
and misery (for that belongs to the secure spirits such
as this scribe, who do not want to be called sinners), but
He sincerely takes pity on us, befriends and comforts us
through His Word, Himself binds up the wounded, puts
us on His animal, nurses and tends to us. He Himself had
to carry out our redemption by Himself, take our place,
and bear on His body our sins and need. He Himself also
3

Leader’s Guide |

He Is Our Righteousness
Pa rti ci pa n t ’s

Gui de

Session 4:
“Go and Do Likewise”

2019 Convention Workbook

We let Luther have the final word among us:

That, however, may seem to be simply dodging the most
damaging aspect of this final word of Jesus to the lawyer.
How can it be any better or even any more likely to require
the lawyer to meet the standard set by our Lord Himself
rather than the standard set by the Law that God gave to
His people? The former possibility is by no means foreign
to biblical thought and is a teaching made explicit by Jesus
2

Cf. Plummer, 289.

What connections do you see between our
parable and this passage from 1 John?

3

Fitzmyer, 866.

proclaims this to us and gives us the comforting words
through which we are bandaged and healed.4
And again:
Look, this is the teaching and power of the Gospel and
the treasure by which we are saved. It brings us to the
point of also beginning to fulfill the Law. Where the
great, unfathomable love and kindness of Christ are
known and believed, love both for God and for our
neighbor also flows from it. Through such knowledge
and consolation the Holy Spirit moves the heart to be
friendly to God, gladly to praise and thank Him as we
should, to guard against sin and disobedience, and
willingly to submit to serving and helping everyone.
Wherever it still feels its weakness, it fights against its
flesh and the devil by calling upon God, etc. Thus the
heart always lifts itself up to Christ in faith; if it does
not satisfy the Law itself, it takes comfort that He fulfills
it and gives and imparts to the heart His fullness and
strength. In this way He always remains our righteousness, redemption, holiness, etc. [cf. 1 Cor. 1:30].5

Concluding Discussion Questions

1. How does Jesus answer the man’s questions about salvation and the requirements of the Law? Or, to ask it another
way, how does Jesus teach the lawyer that he is asking the
wrong questions?
2. Two common misunderstandings about justification are:
(1) “Whether it’s my works or my faith, it doesn’t matter
— in the end, the deciding factor in my salvation is still
me”; and (2) “Because I’m saved by grace, I don’t have to
do anything for anybody. I have no neighbor but Jesus, and
I know He always loves me.” How does the parable of the
Good Samaritan challenge these two misunderstandings?
(The two concluding Luther quotes should help here.)
3. How does the message of the parable as presented here
impact the way you read the following passage, the story
about Martha and Mary? Read Luke 10:38–41. Does that
episode raise similar questions about the relationship
between serving God and being served by Him? How do
the two passages teach mutually reinforcing messages about
the “one thing necessary”?
4. What have you learned about the doctrine of justification
by grace through faith from this study?
4

LW 79:62 §40. Cf. Luther, 53 §40.

5

LW 79:63 §43. Cf. Luther, 54 §43.

4 | He Is Our Righteousness | Session 4

© 2018 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
1333 S. Kirkwood Road
St. Louis, MO 63122
888-THE LCMS • lcms.org/ctcr
The quotations from Luther’s Works in this publication are from the American Edition:
vol. 79 © 2016 by Concordia Publishing House, all rights reserved.
This work may be reproduced by churches and schools for their own use in the study
of the Scriptures. Commercial reproduction, or reproduction for sale, of any portion
of this work or of the work as a whole, without the written permission of the copyright
holder, is prohibited.
Art: Thinkstock/sedmak