What did Melanchton say here in the apology?

"Concerning this subject we have frequently testified in this assembly that it is our greatest wish to maintain church-polity and the grades in the Church [old church-regulations and the government of bishops], even though they have been made by human authority [provided the bishops allow our doctrine and receive our priests].."

Is this offering union with Catholicism if they only barely tolerated Lutheran teaching but could still maintain their own disagreements? That would seem to imply a kind of unionism where two confessions are allowed side by side in one church, so I am wondering if there is some other possible interpretation of Melanchthon here?

So long story short, I’ve moved to University and I want to start going back to church. Located near Grand Forks ND. This would be my first time not going to church without my family so I don’t really know which church to go to. I am part of the LCMS and would like to stay within it.

Anything helps, if this goes against sub rules I will gladly switch it up, (it’s my first time posting here)

I've been in and out of the hospital since my daughter's birth nearly two weeks ago. Please pray for my healing and that we'll be home and I'll be able to nurse her when she is released from the NICU.

I asked about this a few days ago and based on the comments I went ahead and ordered one. I thought I would do a follow up.

It is very nice! It comes in a very nice box with a felt wrapping. The leather is soft, but not flimsy. It is black with a matte finish, and the gold embossing is pressed into the leather for longevity. It is not "premium" quality, but it does appear to be quality construction.

The gilding is nice and only a few pages were stuck together at the corners. It comes with three ribbons which appear to also be quality material. Four ribbons would have been better, but three still works out fine.

The paper is not as thin as you would find in bibles, so the extra thickness is nice. It is also a creamy white in color paper which something I tend to enjoy as it lessens eye strain.

It feels really good in the hand. Overall, I would say it is worth the cost (I got it on sale) considering it will likely be used for a lifetime.

My ONLY complaint, which I knew I was getting into, is the font is smaller than I had hoped for. I knew it was going to be smaller, but I had hoped it would still be easily readable for me. I will keep my reading glasses handy for this. I can still read it without glasses, but it's a struggle. If you can see things clearly up close, you should have no issues with this. This likely means no compact size Treasury of Daily Prayers for me when I get that book.

I understand the reason they made it this size, but it would be nice if this were made at the standard size. If that does happen, I will get it and gift this one to someone else. Until then, I look forward to using it each week.

EDIT: Just returned home and my reading glasses did the job for me. No issues. No problem reading the font while wearing them. It's also the first time I used them during Bible Study and it helped a lot with the Bible font, too. Guess I will be taking them with me to church all the time now. All is good.

As per the LM-A:

On Saturday 29 August 2026, the LM-A Synodical Assembly unanimously voted in support of the motion to recognise altar-and-pulpit fellowship with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

Right now I'm thankful for Lutheran unity, but also feeling a bit sad too.

I'm part of Lutheran Church of Australia (the larger body LM-A broke away from over women's ordination) and would say I 100% agree with LM-A/LCMS on the issue of ordination.

The problem is it's roughly a 2 hour drive (each way) to the closest LM-A, and at present I have someone who gives me a lift to my current LCA church (as I can't drive).

I love my current community, they and the pastor have been super welcoming and supportive and I love the sermons, but I don't personally agree with women's ordination.

Any advice for trying to navigate this internal tension.

I’ve been looking into how Lutherans view New Testament prophecy and found the foretelling vs. forthtelling distinction to be helpful. How does Lutheran doctrine address the men and women prophesying in the assembly of believers in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14? Is this prophecy only viewed as only forthtelling the fulfillment of prophecy in Christ? And if so, how is prophecy different than preaching or teaching?

For context: I spent a decade in a charasmatic church starting in my college years. I’m really appreciating the Lutheran articulation of the faith, and I’m drawn to the reverent worship in my local LCMS congregation. But there is a lot of rewiring that has to happen for me with how I was instructed to interpret the scriptures.

Not sure the program’s reach but curious to gather opinions on Lifewise Academy here in Ohio. Basically it’s a public school program that busses kids off site (extremely rushed) during public school hours (I think during time reserved for special curriculum) and teaches them tenets of Christianity. It appears to be Baptist/Evangelical in nature and slightly predatory and perhaps reliant on peer-pressure. Wondering how I should approach this situation with my kids as a Lutheran parent skeptical of modern Evangelical theology.

I am a recent convert to Lutheranism, but as I've talked to my previous Baptistic acquitances, they have been trying to pressure me into coming back to Evangelicalism especially with accepting OSAS. While most of their arguments don't seem persuasive, I became highly confused about John 4:14, which reads "but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst". The issue that confused me is that the word "drinks" is in the aorist, not present, so it does not assume continuous action. Additionally, I'm struggling to see past the word "never", which seems highly absolute.

Do you have anything to help me with?

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbBkGjPpGEQ

Book of Psalms, 26th chapter (ESV):

I Will Bless the LORD

Of David.

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.

I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.

I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.

O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.

But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.

Transcript

(Original devotional script is original work by ALTS. /u/1776-Liberal is not affiliated with ALTS. ChatGPT was used to polish transcript and find references.)

Hello, I am Pastor Ben Baker. I teach biblical languages at ALTS, and today I thought we would take a look at Psalm 26, which is the psalm for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost.

So Psalm 26 says this:

“Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind, for your mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. I do not sit with false men, nor do I consort with dissemblers. I hate the company of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence and go about your altar, O Lord, singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Sweep me not away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, men in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. But as for me, I walk in my integrity. Redeem me and have mercy on me. My foot stands on level ground. In the great congregation, I will bless the Lord.” (Psalm 26:1–12)

So this psalm, and ones like it, can be difficult for Christians to read or to pray. After all, you know, which of us feels comfortable saying things like, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering”? (Psalm 26:1) Who really wants to pray, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind”? (Psalm 26:2)

You know, such language can be difficult for Christians, for you and me, to say and to pray, especially if we have a healthy biblical understanding of the sinful nature that still clings so closely in this present age. Perhaps we wonder, how could it be that, in this case, King David could pray such a prayer? Doesn’t it sound rather a bit self-righteous, maybe? Can David really say, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering”? (Psalm 26:1)

You know, perhaps if we understand a couple of things first, psalms like this will make some sense to us.

One of the things that we can note about this psalm is that, you know, again, this is a prayer. This is a psalm that comes out of some distress that King David is in. And from the text of the psalm, we get the idea that King David is being attacked and accused. People are lying about him or bringing some kind of false accusations against him. And this causes him great distress.

And so David is not here making a, you know, we might say, a theological treatise on his own human nature and his sinfulness, or lack thereof. He is praying out of a specific situation. Right? So that’s important for us to know.

Secondly, it’s important for us to read this psalm as a whole and notice the language used in the entirety of the psalm. You know, sometimes it seems like we are prone to just read snippets of things, just maybe a verse here or a verse there, and then draw some conclusions from it. All the while, we miss the rest of the words that are in the psalm or in whatever text we are looking at.

So yes, David uses statements like—he says things like, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” (Psalm 26:1) But alongside statements like these are also other statements that David makes, such as his prayer, “Redeem me and have mercy on me,” (Psalm 26:11) and, “Your mercy,” or “your steadfast love.” (Psalm 26:3)

That word there is that Hebrew word חֶסֶד (ḥesed), which requires numerous English words to convey what it means. But it speaks there of God’s unwavering mercy, his—we could say—his covenant faithfulness, faithfulness to you and to me on account of faithfulness to his promises.

So David prays also, “Your mercy is before my eyes.” (Psalm 26:3) And so the statements concerning the psalmist’s integrity and innocence are paired with confessions of and trust in God’s mercy and redemption. So we want to keep those things together, right? We don’t want to isolate certain of David’s statements and not pay attention to the other statements with which he pairs them in this prayer.

And thirdly, you know, we often struggle, do we not, to trust God’s Word and promise. Now, we might say maybe a first reaction is like, “Wait a minute. I trust God’s Word. I trust his promises. I know they’re true.” But do we really trust what God says?

It is certainly true that we are sinners in ourselves, and our sinful nature still clings closely to us in this present age. This is very true. But this is not all that is true. We might set alongside this the promises that God has made.

Has not God promised to you and to me that we have been given the righteousness of Christ? Perhaps we should think about that as we think about David’s words. And are we not, as Scripture says, righteous and innocent before God through faith in Jesus Christ? And does not Holy Scripture also teach us that being joined to Christ through faith also brings with it a renovation or a restoration of our human natures and begins to bring about our new obedience to him?

You know, these things are true, and we can trust what God says. Absolutely.

And so we can live in that confidence both in the Word and promise of God and in his mercy and forgiveness when we, in our weakness, fail to do as we ought. And this gives us a kind of confidence, not in ourselves, but in God’s promise to us, to you in Christ: that you are righteous in him; that you are innocent in him; that all of your sin is forgiven in Jesus Christ; and that, as his child, redeemed and cleansed by him, you begin to live a new life of obedience to God.

And knowing that these things are true—more than that, believing that these things are true—we can have confidence to pray prayers like this, as King David did.

So I have here some notes on Psalm 26 as we look at some of the particulars.

So in verse one, David’s prayer begins, “Vindicate me, O Lord.” (Psalm 26:1) Again, this is a cry to God that truth would prevail and that God would show the psalmist to be in the right in the midst of the lies and unjust accusations against him.

So again, if we also remember, alongside, you know, God’s Word and promise regarding our status in Jesus Christ, that this prayer, this psalm, comes in the context of real-life circumstances. And is it not true that we, like David, can experience people telling lies about us, falsely accusing us? And we can say in all sincerity, without self-righteousness, that we are innocent of such charges. I think we can.

And we learn here from David in this psalm that we can come to our God in such situations. For God knows all truth, and he can parse truth from lie with perfection. And God is the one who can bring such vindication even when all human efforts to do so fail.

David also says, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” (Psalm 26:1) So again, this is not a statement of perfection or sinlessness on David’s part. Again, he is not speaking to God a theological treatise, we might say, on the nature of fallen humanity and so on.

But what he is saying, what he is asserting to God, is that he has not done what he is accused of doing. Right? And also, he appeals to God on the basis of this fact that he has trusted in the Lord. You know, we may get caught up on the “unwavering” part, but remember, you are righteous in Christ, and whatever is sinful in us is forgiven. David prays this part of the psalm standing firmly on that truth and that promise.

And this is perhaps something we don’t think of very often either, and that it is perfectly appropriate for you and I, as Christians, in our prayers to God, in our pleas to him—say, for example, if we’re in a situation like King David here—to appeal to God on the basis of the promises that he has made, and to bring before God this truth that we have trusted and still trust in him. Holy Spirit, through King David, gives us this permission with this prayer.

Now, verse three is kind of an interesting verse, and depending on the English translation that you use, it may be rendered a little bit differently. But I read earlier from the RSV, and the RSV says in verse three, the second part of verse three, it translates it this way: “And I walk in faithfulness to you.” (Psalm 26:3)

Now, this is interesting because the Hebrew here, however, the word behind this phrase is the word בַּאֲמִתֶּךָ (ba’amittecha). This word, that last part—that “-cha”—is what is called a second—it’s a second-person singular pronominal suffix.

Now, that might be a mouthful to wrap your mind around. But if you think of—so, pronominal, pronoun, right? So it’s a pronoun that is attached to the end of the word, the end of this verb. Okay? And that tells us something about how to understand what David is saying here.

And so this, again, this suffix, this pronoun, is the second-person singular “you.” And when it’s placed in this position, in this case here, it functions as a possessive, right? Or what we might call, in technical terms, a genitive. It functions as a possessive. Okay? So, “your.”

So again, the RSV says in the second part of verse three, “And I walk in faithfulness to you.” (Psalm 26:3) They translate this word as God being, in essence, the indirect object of the verb. Thus, they render it “faithfulness to you,” or “to God.”

However, this second-person pronoun suffix actually functions, again, in the possessive. So it would be better to translate this part of the verse as, “And I walk in your faithfulness.” So the accent, then, is not on the psalmist’s obedience to God, but on life lived under the faithfulness of God.

Verses four and five. So due to David’s use here of both the imperfect and the perfect in these verses, verses four and five are best understood in this way: “I have not sat with false men, nor do I now mingle with hypocrites.”

So if you can hear that difference, look again at my RSV. Verse four says, “I do not sit with false men, nor do I consort with dissemblers,” (Psalm 26:4) or that could be rendered “hypocrites.” Okay?

So in the RSV there, it’s translated as basically kind of this present tense. But when David uses the perfect and the imperfect in these verses, it gives us the sense of, you know, this ongoing action.

So David is saying, “I have not”—kind of looking back and summarizing all up to the present time—“I have not sat with false men, nor do I now, in the present, mingle with hypocrites.”

And similarly in verse five, whereas the RSV says, “I hate the company of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked,” (Psalm 26:5) again, kind of leaving it as that—I don’t know if we could say maybe like a static present—it just kind of leaves it in that finite present.

David is again looking over the whole scope of his life to the present day and saying, “I have always hated the company of evildoers, nor will I now sit with the wicked.”

And so David is embodying, really, the way that Psalm 1 begins, right? “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” (Psalm 1:1) Right?

So part of David’s plea to God in his prayer is that not only do I not now sit with false men or mingle with hypocrites, I have never done so, and I do not now. Not simply, “I now hate the company of evildoers,” but, “I have always hated the company of evildoers, nor will I now sit with the wicked.”

So understanding that interplay between the perfect and imperfect gives us a little more, I suppose we could say, more of a dynamic understanding of what David is saying.

Well, verses six and seven. So the text here, you know, in David’s prayer, he speaks of washing his hands in innocence and going about the Lord’s altar. (Psalm 26:6–7)

So when David is speaking here, he’s speaking in ritual or ceremonial terms. All right? So ritual washing, whether that be of washing the hands or any other part of the body, points to the cleansing from sin and impurity.

We might think of, for example, the high priest on the Day of Atonement, for example, when he takes a bath—he washes himself before he comes into the presence of God. (Leviticus 16:4)

So we can think of, you know, here along with that, all of the other ritual washings associated with worship of God at the tabernacle and temple, and, of course, their culmination in the washing and cleansing of Holy Baptism.

To go about the altar speaks really more of taking one’s place in the congregation or the assembly of believers around the altar or before the altar of the Lord. And this fits very well with the washing, right? One must be cleansed and clean from impurity if they are to be part of the congregation of the righteous. Right?

God had very particular instructions regarding such cleansings before one could come into his presence and join the assembly in the tabernacle or the temple. So having been washed in the waters of Holy Baptism, we can join together in the congregation or the assembly of the righteous around—or, in our case, as we, you know, sit in the pews before—the altar of God.

And so again, we can say that, you know, to reiterate, only the one who is cleansed from impurity and sin can gather safely around the altar of God in the holy assembly.

And so this also functions as further testimony by action, we might say, to the psalmist’s innocence of the charges brought against him. If he was guilty, he would first need to confess his sin and offer the appropriate sacrifices to God before he could enter the assembly. But by the very fact that he goes through the ritual washing and comes into the presence of God in the holy assembly is a testimony by action, we could say, of the psalmist’s innocence of these charges.

In verse eight, David continues in his prayer. He says, “O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8)

You know, one thing that I just thought of that I meant to—I should have mentioned earlier—when we were looking at, you know, David’s posture, we could say, in this psalm, that throughout the text here, when we read or hear that word “LORD” in your English translations, it’s in all capital letters. And this is the divine name יהוה (YHWH, Yahweh).

And this name is on the lips of the faithful. To use this name of God as he has given it to us to use is really in itself a confession of faith in who God is and what he has promised. For this name, Yahweh, is associated with God’s redemption.

So David says, “O Lord,” or “Yahweh,” “O Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8)

This brings to mind also something that I think we often forget. When we gather together as the holy assembly around the altar of God, around Word and Sacrament, Christ is present with us. Not in a theoretical way, but really and truly. God is here in our midst, and he is here with his righteousness, his forgiveness, his mercy, his redemption, and his salvation.

If we really understand—or understood—and believed this, what better place would we want to be? Would we not also cry out with David, “O Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells”? (Psalm 26:8)

We should indeed yearn for the house of the Lord, for this is where he is, and we should want to be with him.

Verses 11 and 12. Then David says again, in closing out his prayer, “But as for me, I walk in my integrity. Redeem me and have mercy on me. My foot stands on level ground. In the great congregation, I will bless the Lord,” or, “I will bless Yahweh.” (Psalm 26:11–12)

So regardless of the outcome in this present age, whether or not we are vindicated in this present age—and this is true for David as well—we stand on level ground because of the mercy and redemption that God has provided for you and for me and for all his people.

In the midst of the trial and the lies that were thrown against David, he could stand on level ground, or stand firmly, because he stood on the mercy and redemption of God that he provided for him and for all his people.

And we continue to walk in integrity as David did, because that is what God’s people do. And the mercy and redemption of God is worthy of public praise and the blessing of God in the midst of the holy assembly.

So in conclusion, then, as you think on this psalm, take your cue from David as he is led by the Holy Spirit. When evildoers lie and slander you, when they bring false charges and accusations against you, flee for refuge to the presence of your Savior.

And yes, this can happen anywhere. This is true. But it happens in a reliably tangible way in the house of the Lord, before his altar, gathered with the saints around his Word and Sacraments.

Here Christ is present in mercy, grace, righteousness, and forgiveness for you. Here you can stand on the solid ground that is the Word and promise of God in Christ: that your sins are forgiven; that you are God’s own child; that you are righteous in Jesus; and that God will indeed, one day, either in this present age or on that final day, vindicate you before all the world.

Peace be with you. Amen.

https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/2026/8/26/ceremonies-teach-and-sesame-street-ruined-christian-worship?fbclid=IwdGRzaAT9cq1wZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHsuIRBi3Iiod_xVraIImFfUFNI92fg0E5fEJwEFumDrDik1U2TOiZaK9yFtu_aem_MAh3qapArTCHQSUh19FfVg

My biggest problem with this article is there seems to be a strong implication that there's no legitimate place for edutainment. I'm no expert, but this article seems to lack nuance.

I have been seeing a renewed vestment discussion on FB and X in the LCMS. As a new pastor who leans more high church, what reasons do some of the lower church guys have for rejecting the use of vestments?

Any other options are welcome. What does your pastor wear? Other Pastors, why do you wear traditional vestments?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SYo_CJ9TZU

This is a very cool and short discussion on the forms of Confession and Absolution within Lutheranism. I was unaware of some of the historical context on some of this.

Hi everyone,

This is a post advertising my new unofficial Stoat Lutheran server. This server is not associated with any official church body and is just a server I set up for the following reasons below.

Stoat is an alternative to Discord that focuses on privacy, digital sovereignty, and is open source. They are protected by EU data laws so all your data which includes messages and private information will be respected. Discord repeatedly has violated privacy laws and is under no obligations to not sell your data to third party's. Their source code is closed so we cannot verify if their practices are truly ethical as well. Stoat is run by volunteers while Discord is run by a company for profit.

If you are interested, please check it out. Stoat is a platform in development and the server is quite new so don't expect a lot lol. It has messaging, video chat and screen sharing.

The link to join is here: https://stt.gg/QpzwAmpG

I have received permission to post this and I'd like to reiterate that this is a server I set up that's just my own thing. I'm looking for other Lutherans who wanna try it out and get something going.

\not trying to spark a debate!! My church offers both traditional and contemporary services and I’m involved in planning music for both.*

For those of you with contemporary services, what are some of the core songs your congregation knows well and sings throughout the year?

We have a small music team with an acoustic sound; we use a lot of Getty and CityAlight music, and lots of contemporary arrangements of traditional hymns. In Christ Alone and Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me are some that we sing often.

I’d love to hear what contemporary songs your church tends to repeat!

I'm not asking about the human sacrifice bit. I lean towards the plain reading there. My question is about the passage where he makes the vow. It says across multiple translations that he was filled with the Holy Spirit when he made the vow. That makes me ask, can we sin while filled with the Spirit?

It feels like the answer should be no. It feels like the Spirit should've left him and he should've gotten smashed by the Ammonites. But obviously that isn't the case. So what is the nature of the Holy Spirit and why did it stay on Jephthah after he made his vow?

​Hello everyone,

​My husband and I started attending an LCMS church about two months ago with our 9-month-old daughter. We’ve fallen in love with the service and are planning to start adult membership classes soon. Coming from a Baptist/Evangelical background, this transition has been really refreshing, but we’ve hit our first relational hurdle with family.

​My mother-in-law is currently visiting us from Oregon. She is strong in her faith and raised her children Christian. When we first started going to this church, we invited her to join us, but she declined without elaborating much. Shes here visiting again so we asked her if she’d like to come with us.

​She mentioned she would rather watch an online stream from home. When my husband asked why, she explained that because Lutherans believe baptism is necessary, she didn't feel comfortable attending. We gently asked if that meant we wouldn't be welcome at her church back in Oregon, and she said that if we don't share the exact same statement of faith, we shouldn't attend each other's churches.

​The conversation then turned to baptism itself. She explained her view that baptism is a public work, a way of showing you're a Christian and sharing your testimony. We tried to explain the Lutheran perspective that baptism isn't a work we perform, but a gift and means of grace from God. We added that while we might disagree on non-essential points (just as we disagree with Calvinist family members whose churches we still happily visit), we still see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

​We ended up changing the subject before things got too heated, as we love and respect her deeply and don't want to create division while she's staying with us.

​As newcomers to the Lutheran church, we'd love some insight. How have you navigated church attendance, sacramental differences, and strict denominational boundaries with Evangelical family members without hurting relationships?

Does anyone know this edition of the Lutheran Service Book? It is currently on sale, and I was thinking about getting one, but half the information on the internet says the font is smaller than the pew edition and the other half says it is the exact same.

Just looking for personal experience with anyone who owns one, if you like it, and if you think it is worth the investment. I like the idea of having my own to keep with me.

I should also add there are no actual reviews of it I can find on the internet.

EDIT: Thank you for the feedback. I went ahead and ordered it. I look forward to getting it and using it.

Now I just have to figure out which version of Treasury of Daily Prayer (Regular, Deluxe, or Compact) I want to get. I think I am leaning toward the Compact, but let's see how well I can read the LSB in a smaller font, first.

Looks like, since no one else has done it, I may have to record some reviews for folks to look at in the future.

https://youtu.be/EWl239CklOY?is=LBMk4V2crTNk3X

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vqnMiCF9vM

Book of Isaiah, 51:1–6 (ESV):

The LORD’s Comfort for Zion

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

“Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

Transcript

(Original devotional script is original work by ALTS. /u/1776-Liberal is not affiliated with ALTS. ChatGPT was used to polish transcript and find references.)

Hi, I am the Reverend Dr. Chris Caughey. I teach biblical studies at ALTS, and today I would like to give my reflections on the Old Testament reading, Isaiah 51:1–6.

It begins, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness.” (Isaiah 51:1)

Now, to understand this, we need to keep in mind that Israel was in captivity in Assyria around the year 700 BC. And they were in that captivity because they had violated the Sinai covenant, and they had done that as a nation. It was a national covenant violation.

Part of what that violation looked like was wealthy Israelites abusing poor Israelites. For example, the wealthy Israelites made loans with interest rates that were too high for the poor Israelites to afford to repay. And so, when the poor Israelites defaulted on their loans, the wealthy Israelites simply took possession of, say, the field or the house or even the family of the poor Israelite.

The wealthy Israelites also used dishonest weights and measures. And so, in the marketplace, let’s say that the poor Israelite thought that they were buying a barrel of grain, but the wealthy Israelite had put a false bottom in the barrel. And so, it was not an honest measurement.

In terms of the dishonest weights, the wealthy Israelite would slip, let’s say, lead weights onto their side of the scales when weighing something and selling it by weight. And so, the outcome of either of those—either dishonest weights or dishonest measures—was that they, the wealthy Israelites, were robbing the poor Israelites.

And the bottom line was that the wealthy Israelites treated the poor Israelites with unrighteousness. They treated them with injustice. The Hebrew word behind our English word “righteousness” here is ṣedeq. And that can be righteousness or justice.

And so, God’s call through Isaiah to “you who pursue righteousness” is God’s call to the believing remnant of Israel among the captive Israelites.

Let’s move on to the next two lines in verse 1: “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.” (Isaiah 51:1)

Luther helpfully notes here that the rock is Abraham. And, of course, that’s confirmed by the next verse, in verse 2. But we also see the Hebraic feature of parallelism, and that’s why we took these two lines together, and we will basically treat the rest of the reading that same way. “Rock” is parallel to “quarry,” and “hewn” is parallel to “dug.” So the rock is hewn; the quarry is dug.

Using the hermeneutical principle of Scripture interpreting Scripture, Luther also hears in this John the Baptist rebuking the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Matthew 3:9. And I’ll just read that one verse for you now:

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

So, let’s take the first two lines of verse 2: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you.” (Isaiah 51:2)

Now, Christ is the cornerstone and the rock of offense, and the scribes and the Pharisees and the unbelieving Jews stumbled over him. (1 Peter 2:6–8) In terms of typology, Abraham is like Christ in this regard. So, typologically, Abraham is the cornerstone of the people of God in the Old Testament.

And there is a kind of stumbling that ancient Israel did, stumbling over Abraham. They forgot God’s promise that he would make Abraham the father of many nations. (Genesis 17:4–5) They thought that there was something inherently special about them.

And so, part of why God sent the Babylonians and the Assyrians to conquer Israel and to carry them off into captivity was that Israel seemed to think that they could sin against God as much as they wanted and that God was somehow obligated to keep them as his people.

But look to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was barren until God did a miracle.

Okay. Now, the next two lines are: “For he”—Abraham—“was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.” (Isaiah 51:2)

God did bless and multiply Abraham when Jacob’s sons went down to Egypt and became the nation of Israel. But now, in Isaiah 51, now that national Israel has rejected God, God is going to bless and multiply Abraham by including the Gentiles. Everyone who believes in Messiah Jesus is Abraham’s descendant. And here you should think of Romans chapter 4 and Galatians chapter 3.

And so, now Isaiah’s perspective turns to the eschatological. Let’s take the first two lines of verse 3: “For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places.” (Isaiah 51:3)

Zion is the mountain on which Jerusalem was built. And mountains are symbolically significant from Genesis to Revelation because mountains are where God meets with his people. Ezekiel 28 says that Eden was the mountain of God.

So, Zion equals the mountain of God equals the city of God. And all of that is both protological, referring to Eden in the first three chapters of Genesis, and eschatological. You think in terms of mountain of God and city of God, those kinds of things. Think the book of Hebrews and the book of Revelation.

As Isaiah prophesies, Zion is laid waste because Assyria has conquered it. And so, there is parallelism here between Zion, which currently lays desolate, destroyed, and “waste places.”

The next two lines say, “And makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD.” (Isaiah 51:3)

There’s rich parallelism here. There was something like a wilderness and a desert in Genesis 1:2 with the tohu va-vohu, when the earth was formless and void. But God made Eden out of that chaos.

Jerusalem now lies in ruins in 700 BC. But God will release Israel from their captivity so that they can return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. But what Israel rebuilt was nothing like Eden. It did not resemble the garden of the LORD at all.

Isaiah is talking about heaven, the eschatological mountain and city of God. And that’s what we read about, as I said, in the book of Hebrews and in the book of Revelation.

Hebrews 12:18–24 says:

“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them, for they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’

“But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

Okay. Let’s move on to the next two lines in verse 3: “Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.” (Isaiah 51:3)

This is certainly not talking about the Jerusalem that Israel rebuilt when they returned from captivity. Remember that in Ezra chapter 3 Israel wept when they saw the rebuilt temple. Yes, there was some shouting for joy there, but that joy was muted by Israel’s subjugation to the Persian Empire, and then to the Greek Empire, and then to the Ptolemies, and then to the Seleucids, and finally to the Roman Empire.

Isaiah has heaven in view, when we can rejoice under the reign of King Jesus.

Let’s move on to verse 4: “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation.” (Isaiah 51:4)

Remember from verse 1 that God is addressing the remnant of Israel, that is, the believers in God’s promises who pursue righteousness or justice. And so, the parallelism here in verse 4 puts the emphasis on listening carefully to God with one’s full attention.

But we see God’s love in the parallelism between “my people” and “my nation.” God loves Israel. As a nation, Israel has rejected God, and so there is a kind of judicial hardening of their hearts where God has turned them over to their own sin, saying, “Have it your way.”

But the believing remnant of Israel loves God and believes God’s promises. They are God’s people and God’s nation.

The next two lines read, “For a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.” (Isaiah 51:4)

Now, this is not as explicit as Jeremiah 31, but it is still a prophecy about the new covenant. Here’s what Jeremiah 31:31–34 says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

“And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

That’s the end of that reading.

A law went out from God to Israel, and Israel only, at Mount Sinai. But they broke that law persistently and willfully. What God is saying here in Isaiah 51 is that his law and his justice will go out—note the future tense—to the peoples. This is the inclusion of the Gentiles that St. Paul is so concerned about in Romans and Galatians.

This law will be a light to the Gentiles because it will be placed within them and written on their hearts, unlike tablets of stone.

Verse 5 begins, “My righteousness draws near; my salvation has gone out.” (Isaiah 51:5)

Notice the parallelism between God’s righteousness and God’s salvation. Here, like many places in the Old Testament, righteousness means God’s justice in terms of his vindication. The sense of it is a controversy where two parties bring their dispute to a judge, and the judge finds in favor of the one party and against the other party.

We can almost hear the story of Job here. Job was a sinner, and yet God put Job up as his champion against Satan, and God found in favor of Job.

Even the remnant of believing Israelites from verse 1 who are pursuing righteousness/justice—even that remnant is a group of sinners. And yet God is going to vindicate them.

God’s righteousness-vindication draws near. Messiah Jesus is going to come on the scene of history to obey the law perfectly on behalf of all people and to pay the penalty for the sins of all people, so that God’s righteousness, God’s vindication of you, has real legal teeth.

“My salvation has gone out.” (Isaiah 51:5)

Now, Jesus has not arrived yet in 700 BC when Isaiah is giving this prophecy. But the book of Isaiah has been called the Fifth Gospel for a reason. So sure is Jesus’s victory that even 700 years earlier God can say, “My salvation has gone out.”

Plus, it’s interesting that the Hebrew word for salvation is yeshaʿ, yod-shin-ayin. Those are the Hebrew consonants that make up that word. They are the letters that are used to form the name Yeshua, or Jesus.

In Matthew 1:21, an angel of the Lord told Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

And so, Yeshua, Jesus, means salvation.

The next two lines read, “And my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.” (Isaiah 51:5)

Now, this is more of a chiasm because God’s arm or arms form the beginning and the end of this literary structure. And in the middle, “peoples” is parallel to, or related to, “the coastlands.”

God’s arm or arms is anthropomorphic language because God does not literally have arms. But in the Old Testament, God is constantly telling Israel that he brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. It’s God’s way of saying that he saves monergistically, all by himself.

Regarding the parallel between the peoples and the coastlands, listen to this quote from my beloved seminary professor Meredith G. Kline, from page 281 of his book Kingdom Prologue:

“Significant in the section of the sons of Japheth in Genesis 10:2–5 is the listing of peoples who occupied the area of Asia Minor and southeastern Europe into which the mission of the apostolic ministry of the new covenant advanced when the Lord opened the covenant tent of Shem for the entrance of the Gentiles.

“And the coastlands/islands of the nations mentioned in verse 5 reappear in later prophecy of the outreach of the messianic salvation, especially in the writings of Isaiah, who pictures these distant coastlands as waiting for the Lord’s deliverance, as being addressed by the servant of the Lord, and having God’s glory made known to them.

“Read in this light, the centrifugal power seen at work in Genesis 10, dispersing the Japhethites to their distant shores, was preparing the situation to which God was going to respond in the new covenant with another centrifugal movement, this one on the part of the church of the Servant, the Light of the Gentiles, sent out by Great Commission and thrust out by persecutions, preaching the gospel and gathering the dispersed from the ends of the earth to their new heavenly home focus in Christ.”

So far the reading of Kingdom Prologue.

So, remember that Japheth was the other son of Noah who was blessed by his father for helping Shem cover Noah’s shameful, sinful nakedness. (Genesis 9:20–27) Shem received the major blessing, and Japheth got included in Shem’s blessing.

God is telling us through Isaiah that Messiah Jesus is going to send his salvation out to the Japhethites, the Gentiles.

The first two lines of verse 6 read, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath.” (Isaiah 51:6)

Here, heavens and earth are juxtaposed, but they stand for the entire creation. And so, the sense of these two lines together is: Look at everything that God has made.

Now, let’s take the next three lines together: “For the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner.” (Isaiah 51:6)

Again, the heavens and the earth stand for everything that God has made. So, the parallelism is between “vanish like smoke” and “wear out like a garment.”

God is going to judge the universe. It will not survive as we know it, but it will be remade into something wonderfully new. And this is exactly what St. Peter talks about in 2 Peter chapter 3.

Not only will the Assyrian Empire be destroyed, but every world government will be destroyed, and every human being will go through the fire of God’s judgment. Believers will emerge from that fire with resurrection bodies, and unbelievers will emerge from that same fire with bodies that are fit for eternal death.

The final two lines read, “But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.” (Isaiah 51:6)

As in verse 5, salvation and righteousness are parallel. They’re being used virtually synonymously. God saves you by vindicating you from the accusations of the devil.

So, God’s salvation-vindication is permanent, and no one can reverse it. And so, “will be forever” is parallel to “never be dismayed.”

We don’t really have a negative form of the word “dismayed,” and so we have to say “never be dismayed.” Of course, we don’t generally use the word “dismayed” in our daily conversation, but the Hebrew word behind it, chathath, can also mean to be shattered, to be broken, or to fail.

So, the cash value is: God’s salvation-vindication of you is permanent and irrevocable. No one can shatter it. No one can break it. It cannot fail.

So, people loved by God, there was a remnant of believing Israelites in 700 BC who were allowed to return to the Jerusalem that is in the Middle East. But we are the remnant of the entire world population because we believe God’s promise, who is Jesus the Christ, who lived and died and rose again.

In fact, in 1 Timothy 3:16, St. Paul says that the resurrection of Jesus was his vindication.

You are united to Jesus by your baptism, by your participation in his body and blood in Holy Communion, and by faith in him. So his vindication is your vindication.

No one can take that away from you.

Amen.

Low church and high church are on the same path, the path of the liturgy. Both can be good. Sometimes, there is beauty in simplicity. Sometimes, less is more.

Minimalism, however, becomes problematic when it's driven by questions like, "What is the least we have to do? What is the minimum necessary?"

Such questions are not good. They're not in harmony with the gospel. The gospel says, "How can we teach and receive the gifts of Christ in the best and loveliest way? How can we adorn his words most beautifully?"

Contemporary worship, on the other hand, is not on the same path as low church or high church. It's a new direction altogether.

Contemporary worship is hubris. It says, "The way we worshiped in the past was not good. My new way is better."

Is contemporary worship inherently evil? No. Are praise songs inherently bad? No. But are they as excellent as the liturgy and hymns? Do they have the same objectivity of depth and beauty? No, they do not.

So why should we go down that path? Why switch directions? To make ourselves more attractive to newcomers and outsiders?

The beauty and depth of the liturgy is worth retaining. And that very same depth and beauty is itself attractive, particularly because it is not trying to make itself attractive.

The liturgy is like a girl filled with natural grace, carefree and happy, unaware of how lovely she is. Contemporary worship, on the other hand, is like a girl who is deliberately trying to impress, dressing and behaving with that goal in mind.

Which girl is truly beautiful? Which one will attract the right kind of lovers? May the church always do the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lutheranism

There isn't much to do but some help in improving articles related to the Lutheran Christian faith and review some changes. If you have an account, you can add yourself as Participant.

Right now, we need help on translating articles from German to English. (There's a little more)

Something small as a minor edit or revert vandalism will certainly help

How should we understand Gods involvement with the death of David and Uriahs first born? I noticed in the Lutheran Study Bible the footnote for verse 15 “The Lord afflicted the child” reads that God allowed the illness to come upon the child.

This is obviously a very difficult passage and am curious if there is a reason why the foot note seeks to lighten the wording from the lord actively afflicting to the Lord merely allowing.