During my confirmation years
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Plate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. What does this mean?
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I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. From The Small Catechism. Copyright 1986. By Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Used with permission.
the
atechism
By the Rev. David Petersen
The Second Article: Redemption
, my best friend was a guy by the name of George. He was a Seventh-Day Adventist. He and I were closer than brothers. We shared everything. We spent hours together talking about every aspect of our lives—including our faith. Now, the Seventh-Day Adventists have some strange ideas. They believe that all the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament are still in effect. Because of this they view Christ differently than Lutherans do. My friend was quite worried that we Lutherans, with all our stuffy formalism, statues, and sacraments, didn’t really believe in the Biblical Jesus. I remember one time when George was quizzing me about various things in the Bible. He wanted to know if Lutherans believed in the virgin birth, the raising of Lazarus, and other details from Christ’s life that he felt were essential to faith. I agreed with everything he said, but couldn’t find the words to sum up what I believed about Jesus. I knew I was a Christian even though we watched television and ate meat, but I felt like my faith wasn’t as vibrant or zealous as his. I wanted to prove to George that I really did believe in the Biblical Jesus. Then on my way home from George’s house, it suddenly dawned on me—the Catechism! When I got home, I went straight up to my room and pulled out my Catechism. I copied down (I should have known it by heart, but didn’t) the Second Article of the Creed and Luther’s explanation in a letter. It was all there, a perfect little summary that encapsulated all our hope in Jesus Christ. I had memorized this for class and would later memorize it again for questioning. But that day I read it with fresh eyes. This was my faith and I was glad to attach my name to it. The next day, I gave George the letter. He was impressed. I later gave him his own copy of the Catechism. Over time, George and his parents grew to respect Lutheranism, but never converted. At the end of our eighth grade year, George and his family moved away. Even today, I still miss him, but he is lost to me. All I have left of him are fond memories. But that was a critical time in my life and in my faith. Through George (and the faithful pastor that instructed me) God put me through the ropes and I am stronger because of it. I was re-born in Baptism, but throughout the course of confirmation classes, God awakened me. That was the beginning of my love and appreciation for the Catechism, and a desire to teach it to others. Most of you have probably memorized the Catechism, but I am guessing you can’t quite recite all of it anymore. Pick it up again. Look at it anew. It is not simply a book of instruction, it also is a book of prayer and faith. May God bless your reading of it! The Rev. David Petersen is Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, IN There are three kinds of laws in the Old Testament: The Moral Law, which tells people their duty towards God and man; the Ceremonial Law, which regulated worship and diet in the Old Testament; and the Civic Law, which was the State Law for the people living in Israel at that time. The Ceremonial Law is not binding for us because it was fulfilled in Christ. For example, in Acts 10, God tells Peter to eat foods that were unlawful in the Old Testament for the new age in Christ has begun. Neither are the Civic Laws of the Old Testament binding for us. But our own Civic Laws, unless they violate God's Moral Law, are binding for us and it is a sin to break them. Only the Moral Law was written into man's heart and is still binding for us today. Sins and good deeds both are defined by this Law. The Moral Law is summarized by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40 as: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments, hang all the Law and the Prophets.
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