Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 2 Timothy 2:15–18
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2 Timothy 2:15–18
From the Confessions: The Defense of the Augsburg Confession
Concerning Confession and Satisfaction
We hope that these aspersions will make little headway among good people. God will not long endure such impudence and wickedness. Nor did the Pope of Rome do well for his own dignity by using such patrons, because he has entrusted a matter of the greatest importance to the judgment of these sophists. For since we include in our Confession almost the sum of the entire Christian doctrine, judges should have been appointed, whose learning and faith would have been more approved than that of these sophists who have written this Confutation, to make a declaration concerning matters so important, so many, and so varied.
Pulling It Together: Misrepresentation of Holy Scripture will upset the faith of some, those who have itching ears (2 Tim 4:3), but also those who have not learned the faith. Such deception even leads people into lives of ungodliness. Therefore, the Church needs more sound teaching by those who are able to correctly handle the Word of God, those who put forward the power of God at work in us. Of course, this demands approved ministers—approved of God—who will stand for the truth.
The highest truth in Scripture is Christ, who is truth itself (John 14:6). But there are many in the Church who point away from Christ. They insist that people ought to cover their own sins, either by no longer calling sin sinful, or by teaching them that they can make their own satisfaction for sin through acts of devotion and other works. Such things have “the appearance of godliness” (2 Tim 3:5) but deny the power of Christ to forgive sin, justify people to God, and save sinners for eternal life.
Prayer: Make me a worker of the Word, O Lord. Amen.
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Author
Rev. Mark E. Ryman serves as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC. Previously, Pastor Ryman has served other congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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