Theses 7-8: Let Your Works Be Damnable
This is the fourth installment in our special series on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation. Translation of Theses 5 and 6 by Caleb Keith.
Contributors
Larry D. Hughes
Larry D. Hughes is a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Danville, Kentucky where he serves as head elder. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University holding a degree in Geology and Chemistry. He is a contributor to the books "Wittenberg Confessions – Testimonies of Converts to Confessional Lutheranism" and "Theology of the Cross: Luther's Heidelberg Disputation & Reflections on Its 28 Theses."
So Many Religions
“The lack of assurance of one’s standing before God causes a person to do anything to make things right in a vain attempt to gain eternal certitude. ”
The Death of Death
There in that moment, the waters of baptism reached down deep into the forsaken path of the grave with a man whose body and mind could no longer hold onto any reality otherwise.
The Resurrection of Christ and the Purpose of Vocation
If there is no resurrection, then we have no true hope, and the arts above all vocations would be the folly of follies.
40 Days of Law-Then What?
The Law must attack because nothing outside of Christ can enter Heaven—nothing!
The Authority and Power to Forgive
Neither did Christ’s absolution “run out” nor “reach a limit” due to Judas’ sin.
R.C. Sproul
To lose a leader like this is always too soon!
The Bondage of the Free Will
The folly of sinful man attempting to bridge such an infinite gap to God Who is holy becomes obvious.
Divine Language
God’s justification of us does not happen secretly in our spirits. God justifies you and me in His absolving Word
True Saving Faith Is ‘Blasphemous’
One of the biggest challenges to the Christian faith is sorting through our question of “Where is God in the trials of our lives?”
"God Said, 'Take'"
The devil is effective with this attack because it calls out all the things a Christian sinner experiences as simultaneous sinner and saint.
There Will Be Signs in the Sun and the Moon
In our time Christ has not left us bereft of unbroken signs of His promised return.
The Comfort and Assurance of Eternal Election
We find such a temptation when the devil causes us to question God’s election or predestination of us in “eternity as a past event” (i.e. “eternity-past”).
The Reality of Sin, Death, and Forgiveness
When we explain away God’s Word, we jettison the reality of our ominous diagnosis in the “Thou shall/shall nots” of the law, and with it the sweet cure in the, “This is My body/blood” of the Gospel.
The Gospel—Beyond Time and Space
Jesus takes that burden away in the “I forgive you and them” and gives us His “light” burden.
Why Do The Youth Leave The Church?
This story is all-too-common, and illustrates a key dynamic driving the youth out of church.