Lutheran Essentials meets in the undercroft of the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. You can reach the undercroft by going around to the back parking lot of the church and descending the staircase to the kitchen. Knock on the door if it is closed and some one will let you in. You can also join us remotely via our livestream. Our current study is on the Heidelberg Disputation. We are also providing hard copies of the Book of Concord for free, as well as copies of the Lutheran Service Book.
We will open class with Psalm 119:145-152 (Qoph) and our catechism lesson will be on the Fourth Commandment. We will then begin our study of the Heidelberg Disputation by looking over the Theological Theses in brief. The theses can be broken up in the 6 parts: the role of works in salvation, what works are good works, what sins are damning sins, free will, the visible and invisible will of God, and finally the distinction between Law and Gospel. We will then sing the hymn “On My Heart Imprint Your Image” (LSB 422).
We will then dive into the proofs for theses 1 to 2. We will talk about how even though the Law of God is good it cannot save because man cannot keep it perfectly. Rather man always tries to trust in works, thus the Law shows us our failure to keep the works God demands of us. We will then sing stanza’s 1-2 of the hymn “On My Heart Imprint Your Image”.
Next we will look at the proofs for theses 3 to 6. We will talk about what works are truly pleasing to God. Namely those works that are done to earn salvation or by a man who is certain his is good on his own are evil, even if they appear outwardly good. Truly good works flow from faith and a knowledge of the sinful state of mans heart. Thus even works that may be flawed outwardly can be good if done in faith. We will close with singing stanza’s 3-6 of the hymn “On My Heart Imprint Your Image”.
As always new people are always welcome to this study at any point during the class. Please talk to the Pastor, Elders or Paul Edmon if you have any questions.
