The Word Endures: Appreciate the Role of the Old Testament Law

11/22

The covenant made with Abraham and the covenant made at Mount Sinai both included promises, but with one key difference.  The law promises always had conditions to fulfill.  We will we lose if we fall into treating the promises of the Gospel as all coming with conditions to be met by us?

The Word Endures: Good Works

11/29

There is much more to say about good works than that they don’t earn salvation.  What did Luther rediscover in God’s Word?

The Word Endures: Conversion and the Will

12/6

The certainty of salvation is lost where people believe their salvation must begin with an act of their own will.  Luther discovered that certainty is found in God’s will for us

The Word Endures: Prayer

12/13

Luther’s study of God’s Word helped him to break away from the thought that prayer is a meritorious act.  The beauty of the Lord’s Prayer is lost when saying it is assigned as an act of penance (from the Latin word for punishment.)  Luther will remind us that it is a privilege.

The Word Endures: Marriage

12/20

The church taught that promising not to marry earned more favor from God than living in marriage.  Luther used God’s Word to elevate marriage in the eyes of the people.  He had come to realize that monastic vows elevated works chosen by men over works commanded by God.