LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 93

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devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy
precious blood and his innocent suffering and death,
that I may be His own and live under Him in His
Kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness,
innocence and blessedness, even as He is risen from
the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most
certainly true. 12
I love how Martin Luther in his Galatians commentary
expands on the comfort of Christ’s death and
resurrection. He will go off on these Gospel “riffs.”
When I feel the terrors of death, I say, “Death, you
have nothing on me. For I have another death, one
that kills you, my death. And the death that kills [that
is, the death and resurrection of Jesus] is stronger than
the death that is killed.” 13
The devil is sent off packing, as well.
The more the devil attacks [the believer] with all his
force and tries to overwhelm him with all the terrors
of the world, the more hope [the believer] acquires in
the very midst of all these terrors and says, “Mr.
Devil, do not rage so. Just take it easy! For there is One
who is called Christ. In Him I believe. … And He is
your devil, you devil, because He has captured and
conquered you, so that you cannot harm me any
longer.” 14
Wonderful consolation for hurting and broken people
like us! It is the joy of the forgiveness of sins and
justification by faith in Christ alone.
The apostles of Christ were totally convinced that the
whole Old Testament was all about Jesus and the
forgiveness of sins. For example, Peter preached, “To
Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who
believes in [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through
His name” (Acts 10:43). 15 Thus the Lutheran confessors
called the doctrine of justification by faith the article by
which the church stands or falls. Indeed, the Apology
says the highest worship of God is to look to Jesus for
the forgiveness of sins. 16
Think of the parts of a bicycle wheel. There’s the rim
and tire. There are the spokes that connect the rim with
the hub. But the most important part is at the center,
the axle, around which it all turns. The rim could be
bent and some of the spokes might be broken, but the
wheel would still turn. Without a hub and axle though,
not only will the wheel not turn, you really don’t even
have a wheel at all, just loose spokes and a rim. In
Lutheran biblical theology the forgiveness of sins in
Christ and justification by faith alone are the axle of the
wheel. This is what holds everything together. If you
put anything else at the center, no matter what, There’s
Convention Essays

no joy. Every other aspect of our theology — creation,
ethics, even the sovereignty of God — MUST revolve
around justification and the forgiveness of sins. With
St. Paul “We hold that a man is justified by faith apart
from the works of the law.” 17 God counts me righteous
for the sake of Christ. This is the center around which
everything turns, the source of everlasting, never
ending joy. It is by faith in Christ alone. By faith we
know God as Father. All other theological approaches
steal the joy.
Being a Christian is at heart not a matter of doing but of
receiving gifts. By faith we receive life and salvation in
the water of Baptism. By faith we are clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. By faith we receive the benefits
of Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament.
Everything about our theology is so arranged to give us
joy in the forgiveness of sins, joy in the fact that God
accounts us righteous in Christ, that He declares us not
guilty for the sake of Christ. This brings maximum
comfort to hurting and broken people, penitent
sinners. Again, Luther writes:
[By faith] “you are so cemented to Christ that He and
you are as one person, which cannot be separated but
remains attached to Him forever and declares: ‘I am as
Christ.’ And Christ, in turn, says: ‘I am as that sinner
who is attached to Me, and I to Him. For by faith we
are joined together into one flesh and one bone.’ … this
faith couples Christ and me more intimately than a
husband is coupled to his wife.” 18
So how is all this delivered to us? How do we come to
this faith? Earlier in First Thessalonians Paul wrote,
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when
you received the word of God, which you heard from us,
you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it
really is, the word of God, which is at work in you
believers” (1 Thess. 2:13). The word translated as “is at
work” is ἐνεργέω — from which we get our words
“energy” and “energize.” The Word of God moves. God
speaks. Stuff happens. Jesus says, “Your sins are
forgiven,” 19 and it’s done. Sins are forgiven. Then on
Easter evening Jesus gave His Church the same task:
“’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so
I am sending you.’ And when he had said this,
he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it
is withheld.’” (John 20:21–23).
One of my responsibilities these past nine years has
been to chair the Synod’s Colloquy Committees. A
Reformed Presbyterian pastor who was becoming
Lutheran by colloquy described the difference this way.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 93