Tag: Eternal Savior

SOLA GRATIA

We who are Christians of the Lutheran Confession emphasize the gospel principle known as Sola Gratia, which means “Grace Alone” in Latin. This biblical truth and good news, highlighted by Martin Luther and subsequent Protestant Reformers, declares that we are saved from sin, death, and the devil, by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ.

For the Word of God within chapter 3 of the Epistle to the Romans proclaims the following… “But now, apart from the Torah, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the Torah and the Prophets — namely, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and all are now justified freely by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.” – (Romans 3:21-25)

Now, it’s important to note that this profound gift of Sola Gratia rests entirely upon a Savior who is simultaneously divine and human. That is, salvation by God’s grace alone completely hinges upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully human. For only such a One as this could accomplish the atonement for our sins and reconcile us to God.

Jesus’ divinity (his being co-equal and co-eternal with God Almighty) ensures his sacrifice for us is of supreme value, atoning for all sin of all time, once and for all. As he is God incarnate in human flesh (true God from true God), the Eternal Son, of One Being with the Father, Jesus is the perfect offering of infinite worth, capable of redeeming all humanity. Simultaneously, however, his humanity is equally vital. As he is truly human, born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus lived a sinless human life under the biblical Torah, and he truly suffered and died in our place, bearing the penalty of our sins. So, only a fellow human could represent us and stand as our substitute, and, at the same time, only Almighty God could offer a sacrifice of eternal value that would be sufficient for the world’s redemption.

Therefore, this mystical reality (that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human) makes our atonement and salvation possible. Christ’s atoning sacrifice, sealed by his blood shed for us and confirmed by his glorious resurrection, is the universal offering that reconciles us to God by grace alone.

For the Word of God within chapter 2 of the Epistle to the Ephesians states the following… “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.” – (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are completely justified (completely forgiven!!!) before God, which perfectly reconciles us to God, all by God’s grace through faith as a free gift, not by our own works. But this is not to say that our good works don’t matter. In fact, good works are very much a part of our Christian faith. So yes, we are indeed saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ alone, not by our good works; however, we are saved by God’s grace in Christ for the sake of living a Christ-like life of good works as best we can — saved for doing good works as our way of life in response to God’s free grace given us (see Eph. 2:10 above).

Approximately six months ago, my newsletter article was about the 1700th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed in this Year of our Lord, 2025, and about how it is the preeminent statement of Christian faith which boldly professes that Jesus is “true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father… for us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human.” Consequently, may we be firmly anchored in this true faith of our divine and human Redeemer, whose grace alone saves us.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us always rejoice in Sola Gratia (“Grace Alone”) trusting in the One Savior who is fully God and fully human — the One and Only who died for our sins, rose from the grave, secured our infinite atonement, and washes us in his baptismal waters of rebirth, renewal and eternal resurrection life.

For the Word of God within chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Romans declares the following…  “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” – (Romans 6:3-5)

All thanks, praise and glory be to God for Sola Gratia!

By God’s Grace in Christ, Pastor Tim

PLANTING TREES

There is no doubt that we live in a time of colossal and world-shattering change: socially, religiously, culturally, nationally, globally, etcetera. It is indeed the end of the world as we know it.

Historians have recognized that approximately every five hundred years human civilization goes through some kind of major transition from an older structure of things to a new one, and it sure feels like that’s exactly what’s happening in our time. In fact, the last major civilizational shift was the Protestant Reformation, five hundred years ago, when Martin Luther and the other Protestant Reformers sparked this world-changing transfiguration through their reforms of the Medieval Roman Church.

Today, the world as we have known it is rapidly being replace by an emerging reality that is not yet fully clear. Consequently, speculations of the various end times theologies and ideologies abound. And due to the influential pre-millennial theology of the Left Behind novels, some Christians have started to regard any global peacemaking initiative as automatically some kind of great antichrist deception.

Consequently, such Christians (in the name of Jesus) often orient themselves against work for international peace and reconciliation because their Left Behind theology says that such work is always secretly on the side of the evil one. However, our Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). And when Martin Luther was asked what he would do today if he knew the world would end tomorrow, Luther said, “I would plant a tree.”

In other words, even if we knew that tomorrow the world was going to end and the Kingdom of God was going to come in its fullness, we are called to never stop planting “trees” today (both literally and metaphorically). That is, we are to especially plant the metaphorical trees of peace and truth and grace today, no matter what God has in store tomorrow.

God’s people are to always and continually take part in the creative and redeeming work of God today and every day! By the grace and power of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are to plant trees of faith in the midst of fear, trees of hope against all hope, and trees of righteousness and peace. And of course, we are to not forget to plant real trees that give us oxygen and help regulate the balance of life on God’s green Earth. Therefore, to prescribe and do anything other than this is to be “anti” (against) Christ.

As our Lord Jesus declares in Matthew 25:31-46, we are called to continue to labor to make the world a better place right up to the great Day of the Lord, the great Second Advent of Jesus Christ. By God’s grace, we are to continue to work (right up to the very moment of Christ’s return) to ease human suffering, to promote equal treatment under law, and, of course, to be peacemakers in the name of Yeshua (Jesus) our Eternal Savior.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

THE DIVINE MIRROR RESTORED

It’s true that we Lutherans certainly believe that the Lutheran branch of the Christian Faith has many wonderful gifts to offer to the whole of Christianity and indeed to the entire world, but we Lutherans also recognize that we do not have a monopoly on all theological and spiritual truths. And it’s true that we as Christians proclaim that the good news of Jesus Christ provides direct access to the fullness of God’s grace and truth, but we do not say that we have a monopoly on God’s eternal grace and truth. So if members of the Church of Jesus Christ consider those of other religions to be completely ignorant of all theological and spiritual truths, then this is just plain wrong. And if non-Christians assume that we Christians claim to be the sole purveyors of truth, then they’re wrong too.

Nevertheless, we Christians do profess and confess that Christ is “the Way and the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6), and so we earnestly proclaim the good news of his redeeming life, death and resurrection for the sake of the world. In fact, the Holy Scriptures exhort us to always be ready to share the grace and truth of Jesus Christ with our neighbors:

“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth [of Christ] to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.” – (Ephesians 4:25)

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” – (First Peter 3:15-16)

However, we do this proclamation of Jesus’ good news within the multicultural context of human civilization. For we see throughout the history of salvation (from ancient times unto today) that there is a certain universal pattern we sinful human beings (of all times and places) seem to follow. It’s the pattern of faithfulness and apostasy, and it should be very familiar to us within the Christian Faith because the Holy Bible is filled with this pattern.

The cycle of faithfulness and apostasy is the historical pattern of civilization all over the world throughout the ages. From the very genesis of humanity, over and over again, God calls us, gathers us, instructs us and blesses us. But over and over again, people begin to reject and fall away from God’s revealed truth and grace. Therefore, God decided to send us the exact reflection of the glory of the fullness of himself — Christ Jesus our Lord, the Eternal Son of God and Bread of Heaven.

Let’s imagine that the revelation of God is one great Divine Mirror. And let’s imagine that the pattern of faithfulness and apostasy within human civilization is that Mirror breaking into a thousand pieces and scattering throughout the world. And then, after each shattering of this Mirror, a faithful remnant of believers were left to salvage as many pieces of God’s grace and truth as they could, resulting in a great diversity of faiths and spiritual traditions over time. So each time this shattering would happen in history, a group of like-minded believers would gather their particular shards of the Divine Mirror, and they would follow God’s Light reflected in these shards as best they knew how. And thousands of other groups did the same thing with the shards of truth they had collected.

But then, at the right time in human history, God revealed the fullness of his truth and grace for all people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is the entire Divine Mirror restored to humanity — for he is the clear-as-glass Living Mirror of Heaven. And it might sound presumptuous to claim that the faith, hope and love of Jesus constitute the complete Divine Mirror reflecting the fullness of God’s Heart for humanity, but that is indeed what we have been granted in Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God!

However, while we have amazing access to the entire Divine Mirror of God (in all its clarity) through Jesus our Savior, this should not by any means negate the importance of the shards of God’s grace and truth that other religions have access to. In fact, the shards of Divine Truth within non-Christian religions (although incomplete) are nevertheless reflective of God’s saving truth. Consequently, the great non-Christian religious leaders of the world such as Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, Confucius, and Lao-Tzu (as well as philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and others) have all received pieces of God’s complete Mirror. They all have received a portion of God’s True Light — morsels of the Bread of Heaven (so to speak). So let’s genuinely appreciate the Truth of God from whichever direction it’s coming at us, even from non-Christian sources.

As we Christians share with others the fullness of God’s grace and truth in Christ Jesus our Lord, let’s remember the great Divine Mirror that every compassionate religion has pieces of — precious pieces of the universal reality and saving grace of God. Yet, our evangelical mission is to always uplift how all those shards of God’s Truth fit into the wholeness of God’s pure reflection in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. And even if a certain non-Christian belief seems to be contrary to the gospel of Jesus, it just might be that this belief is still somehow based upon an eternal principle of God (if we look deeply enough). So maybe that shard of belief that seems to contradict Jesus simply needs a little ‘gospel windex’ to clarify it a bit.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re not here to trash the pieces of the Mirror (or the portions of the Bread of Heaven) that people of other belief systems possess. We are simply here to do as it says in Ephesians 4 and First Peter 3, where it says: “let all of us speak the truth [of Christ] to our neighbors, for we are members of one another” and “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect…”

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim