The Antiphon for next Sunday’s Introit proclaims, I will speak of Your statutes before Kings O Lord, and shall not be put to shame. T his verse also serves as the inscription for the Augsburg Confession, one of the documents in the Lutheran Book of Concord. We need fear no earthly kings or powers when we make confession of our faith, for we have been set free from fear by the Gospel. Let us make bold our proclamation of confidence in the Lord, who redeems the life of His servants. For this, we bless the Lord at all times.
The theme for the Reformation
Sunday is Freedom in Christ. Over the course of centuries, the
institutionalized church led by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, had become
extremely corrupt. The Gospel had been obscured, and, in its place, a system of
works-righteousness, treasuries of merits of the saints, and the buying and
selling of indulgence had arisen.
God used an
Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, to reform His Church. Luther searched the
Scriptures, and found in them liberty, rooted in the three-fold office of
Christ (Prophet, Priest, and King.)
Christ is our Priest, our
Mediator, who justifies us by His blood. He is our Prophet, who reveals to us
the Gospel, which is the ‘power of God unto salvation for everyone who
believes’ (
By His death, Christ has set us
free from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil. Through Luther and other
Reformers, he has set us free from the tyranny of Popes and Councils. We have Freedom
in Christ, indeed!
By the proclamation of His
eternal Gospel “to those who dwell on
earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people” (Revelation
14:6), “the righteousness of God has been
manifested apart from the law” (Romans 3:21), “that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in
Jesus” (Romans 3:26). And by the hearing of that Gospel of Christ Jesus, “whom God put forward as a propitiation by
his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:25), “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John
8:31–32).[1]
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