Verbum domini manet in aeternum. The word of the Lord endures forever.
1 Peter 1:24-25, quoting Isaiah 40:6,8. Motto of the Lutheran Reformation.
Fayth onely justifieth before God. Robert Barnes, DD The Supplication, fourth essay. London: Daye, 1572.
Lord if Thou straightly mark our iniquity, who is able to abide Thy judgement? Wherefore I trust in no work that I ever did, but only in the death of Jesus Christ. I do not doubt, but through Him to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Robert Barnes, DD, before he was burnt alive for "heresy", 30 July 1540.What is Luther? The doctrine is not mine, nor have I been crucified for anyone. Martin Luther, Dr. theol. (1522)
Divine Service / Liturgy
The service of God to Man of Word and Sacrament.
Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. The Mass is held among us and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, except that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns. These have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed for this reason alone, that the uneducated be taught what they need to know about Christ.
Therefore, since the Mass among us follows the example of the Church, taken from the Scripture and the Fathers, we are confident that it cannot be disapproved. This is especially so because we keep the public ceremonies, which are for the most part similar to those previously in use. Only the number of Masses differs.
... we keep many traditions that are leading to good order (1Cor. 14:40) in the Church, such as the order of Scripture lessons in the Mass and the chief holy days. At the same time, we warn people that such observances do not justify us before God ...
from The Augsburg Confession, Articles XXIV & XXVI.
Therefore, since the Mass among us follows the example of the Church, taken from the Scripture and the Fathers, we are confident that it cannot be disapproved. This is especially so because we keep the public ceremonies, which are for the most part similar to those previously in use. Only the number of Masses differs.
... we keep many traditions that are leading to good order (1Cor. 14:40) in the Church, such as the order of Scripture lessons in the Mass and the chief holy days. At the same time, we warn people that such observances do not justify us before God ...
from The Augsburg Confession, Articles XXIV & XXVI.
- Read "An Explanation of The Common Service", Introduction!
- Get Your "An Explanation of The Common Service"!
- Read Kurt Marquart on Liturgical Confusion!
- Get Your The Lutheran Hymnal! (LCMS, 1941)
- EASTERN LITURGY (Ukrainian)
- WESTERN LITURGY (Augustana)
Ein Merkzeichen meiner Theologie. "This is my compendium theologiae." 8 Juli/July 1530
A Beggar's Daily Portion
We are beggars. This is true.
Those are Luther's last words, written, as he could not speak, the first in German, the last in Latin.
So how does a beggar get his daily food? Here's how.
Luther lays it out in the Small Catechism, Section Two, Daily Prayers. You can read these Daily Prayers from the Small Catechism online right away, and print PDFs in full and for free, here. We beggars find there what we need for devotional prayer -- the Sign of the Cross, the Creed, the Our Father, a short prayer for morning and evening, and for before and after meals. None of it original with Luther. Nothing in "Lutheranism" is.
The following links give basic sources for our faith. Most are online, and all available in print as well from Concordia Publishing House.
For beggars who are pastors, formerly "priests", Luther notes in the Large Catechism that they are relieved of the useless and burdensome babbling of the seven canonical hours in their personal prayer, and encourages them to drop that altogether for morning, noon, and evening reading from the Catechism or Bible, and the Our Father.
Food For A Beggar's Daily Portion.
The Small Catechism with Explanation. The Small Catechism is itself the handbook of our faith. You can read it online here, and get the app for your phone. The book, ePub or Kindle versions of the Small Catechism also have an Explanation and Appendices that are great for study. Sie können auf Deutsch hier lesen.
The Lutheran Study Bible. You'll want a Bible of course, and this is the best study Bible around hands down. If if isn't in the budget right away, don't hesitate to get the Concordia ESV Pew Bible. You can read the Bible in the English Standard Version here, oder die Lutherbibel hier, or the Clementine Vulgate here.
The Augsburg Confession. This is the primary specifically Lutheran statement of the Christian faith. You can read it online here. It and the Small Catechism are also included in Concordia, aka The Book of Concord, the defining statements, or confessions, of our faith. You can read the 1921 Bente edition online in English, German or Latin here. Or get the more recent Readers Edition The Book of Concord. You can get Readers Edition The Augsburg Confession from it separately.
God Grant It, daily readings through the church year from the sermons of C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and
Portals of Prayer, an LCMS devotional quarterly. There is nothing better than the short daily readings and Scripture verses in these two for the "whatever your devotion may suggest" part.
The Lutheran Hymnal. TLH embodies the common worship of the pure Christian Church of all ages, and we beggars, past, present and future, pray as one as well as individually.
But don't make a burden or a law about these books. It is not necessary to learn everything at once, but one thing after another, so you don't get overwhelmed.
Further material is in the Reference Book List below in the sidebar.
The Food of Word and Sacrament.
And go to Divine Service every Sunday, that's your food too, and Divine Office if you are lucky enough to be in a parish that does it! Right in your own parish you find Baptism, the Sacrament, preaching, and your neighbour; this is greater than all the saints in heaven, as they were themselves made saints by Word and Sacrament.
Das sage ich aber für mich: Ich bin auch ein Doktor ... und muß ein Kind und Schüler des Katechismus bleiben, und bleib es auch gerne.
Those are Luther's last words, written, as he could not speak, the first in German, the last in Latin.
So how does a beggar get his daily food? Here's how.
Luther lays it out in the Small Catechism, Section Two, Daily Prayers. You can read these Daily Prayers from the Small Catechism online right away, and print PDFs in full and for free, here. We beggars find there what we need for devotional prayer -- the Sign of the Cross, the Creed, the Our Father, a short prayer for morning and evening, and for before and after meals. None of it original with Luther. Nothing in "Lutheranism" is.
The following links give basic sources for our faith. Most are online, and all available in print as well from Concordia Publishing House.
For beggars who are pastors, formerly "priests", Luther notes in the Large Catechism that they are relieved of the useless and burdensome babbling of the seven canonical hours in their personal prayer, and encourages them to drop that altogether for morning, noon, and evening reading from the Catechism or Bible, and the Our Father.
Food For A Beggar's Daily Portion.
The Small Catechism with Explanation. The Small Catechism is itself the handbook of our faith. You can read it online here, and get the app for your phone. The book, ePub or Kindle versions of the Small Catechism also have an Explanation and Appendices that are great for study. Sie können auf Deutsch hier lesen.
The Lutheran Study Bible. You'll want a Bible of course, and this is the best study Bible around hands down. If if isn't in the budget right away, don't hesitate to get the Concordia ESV Pew Bible. You can read the Bible in the English Standard Version here, oder die Lutherbibel hier, or the Clementine Vulgate here.
The Augsburg Confession. This is the primary specifically Lutheran statement of the Christian faith. You can read it online here. It and the Small Catechism are also included in Concordia, aka The Book of Concord, the defining statements, or confessions, of our faith. You can read the 1921 Bente edition online in English, German or Latin here. Or get the more recent Readers Edition The Book of Concord. You can get Readers Edition The Augsburg Confession from it separately.
God Grant It, daily readings through the church year from the sermons of C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and
Portals of Prayer, an LCMS devotional quarterly. There is nothing better than the short daily readings and Scripture verses in these two for the "whatever your devotion may suggest" part.
The Lutheran Hymnal. TLH embodies the common worship of the pure Christian Church of all ages, and we beggars, past, present and future, pray as one as well as individually.
But don't make a burden or a law about these books. It is not necessary to learn everything at once, but one thing after another, so you don't get overwhelmed.
Further material is in the Reference Book List below in the sidebar.
The Food of Word and Sacrament.
And go to Divine Service every Sunday, that's your food too, and Divine Office if you are lucky enough to be in a parish that does it! Right in your own parish you find Baptism, the Sacrament, preaching, and your neighbour; this is greater than all the saints in heaven, as they were themselves made saints by Word and Sacrament.
Das sage ich aber für mich: Ich bin auch ein Doktor ... und muß ein Kind und Schüler des Katechismus bleiben, und bleib es auch gerne.
Divine Service / Liturgy
The service of God to Man of Word and Sacrament.
Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. The Mass is held among us and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, except that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns. These have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed for this reason alone, that the uneducated be taught what they need to know about Christ.
Therefore, since the Mass among us follows the example of the Church, taken from the Scripture and the Fathers, we are confident that it cannot be disapproved. This is especially so because we keep the public ceremonies, which are for the most part similar to those previously in use. Only the number of Masses differs.
... we keep many traditions that are leading to good order (1Cor. 14:40) in the Church, such as the order of Scripture lessons in the Mass and the chief holy days. At the same time, we warn people that such observances do not justify us before God ...
from The Augsburg Confession, Articles XXIV & XXVI.
Therefore, since the Mass among us follows the example of the Church, taken from the Scripture and the Fathers, we are confident that it cannot be disapproved. This is especially so because we keep the public ceremonies, which are for the most part similar to those previously in use. Only the number of Masses differs.
... we keep many traditions that are leading to good order (1Cor. 14:40) in the Church, such as the order of Scripture lessons in the Mass and the chief holy days. At the same time, we warn people that such observances do not justify us before God ...
from The Augsburg Confession, Articles XXIV & XXVI.
- Read "An Explanation of The Common Service", Introduction!
- Get Your "An Explanation of The Common Service"!
- Read Kurt Marquart on Liturgical Confusion!
- Get Your The Lutheran Hymnal! (LCMS, 1941)
- EASTERN LITURGY (Ukrainian)
- WESTERN LITURGY (Augustana)
We Are Beggars. This Is True.
Which are Luther's last words, written as he could not speak, the first words in German and the last in Latin, 18 February 1546.
In a letter of 9 July 1537, Luther wrote that he really wasn't all that big on a plan to collect his works in a series of volumes, that he would rather see them consumed as Saturn, in Greek mythology, consumed his children, except maybe De servo arbitrio and the Catechism.
De servo arbitrio is a theological treatise, therefore in Latin, of 1525. The title is usually known in English as "On the Bondage of the Will". It more literally translates as "On (or concerning, or of) Bound Decision (or choice)". Both the title and the work itself counter Erasmus' treatise De libero arbitrio, or Of Free Will, of 1524.
Which is the whole thing, or nothing -- what is it to be saved, what is salvation anyway, and how does it come about?
Here is a link to an online posting of the first English translation, by Henry Cole in 1823, who literally translates the title as "On the Enslaved Will".
I'm glad the Saturn urge didn't prevail, though, because "Babylonian Captivity" (1520), the work that set an initially sympathetic Erasmus off against Luther, and the House (1542, 1549) and Church (1527) Postils (sermons on the lectionary -- the real one -- readings; homilies) I put right up there with "Bondage" and the Catechism (meaning both the large and small ones).
Hey, the Hauspostille are from after he wrote that letter anyway.
Not to mention, though Luther would mention it, that it is not about Luther or his writings, but the faith of Christ, which we hold with one heart is accurately stated in the Book of Concord, Concordia in Latin, which Luther never saw, complied 34 years after his death, and of whose contents he wrote only the Catechisms and the Smalcald Articles.
18 February 2011.
In a letter of 9 July 1537, Luther wrote that he really wasn't all that big on a plan to collect his works in a series of volumes, that he would rather see them consumed as Saturn, in Greek mythology, consumed his children, except maybe De servo arbitrio and the Catechism.
De servo arbitrio is a theological treatise, therefore in Latin, of 1525. The title is usually known in English as "On the Bondage of the Will". It more literally translates as "On (or concerning, or of) Bound Decision (or choice)". Both the title and the work itself counter Erasmus' treatise De libero arbitrio, or Of Free Will, of 1524.
Which is the whole thing, or nothing -- what is it to be saved, what is salvation anyway, and how does it come about?
Here is a link to an online posting of the first English translation, by Henry Cole in 1823, who literally translates the title as "On the Enslaved Will".
I'm glad the Saturn urge didn't prevail, though, because "Babylonian Captivity" (1520), the work that set an initially sympathetic Erasmus off against Luther, and the House (1542, 1549) and Church (1527) Postils (sermons on the lectionary -- the real one -- readings; homilies) I put right up there with "Bondage" and the Catechism (meaning both the large and small ones).
Hey, the Hauspostille are from after he wrote that letter anyway.
Not to mention, though Luther would mention it, that it is not about Luther or his writings, but the faith of Christ, which we hold with one heart is accurately stated in the Book of Concord, Concordia in Latin, which Luther never saw, complied 34 years after his death, and of whose contents he wrote only the Catechisms and the Smalcald Articles.
18 February 2011.
