Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 1:16

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From the Word: For from his fullness we all received, and grace after grace. (John 1:16)

From the Confessions: The Small Catechism

The Seventh Petition

But deliver us from evil.

What does this mean?

We pray in this petition, as in a summary, that our heavenly Father would deliver us from every type of evil — whether it affects our bodies or souls, property or reputation — and at last, when our hour of death comes, would grant us a blessed end to our earthly lives, and graciously take us from this world of sorrow to himself in heaven.

Pulling It Together: Life, and with it rescue from all evil, comes through the Living Word (John 1:4). Everlasting life comes only through him who is the life and light of humanity, when each person receives him by believing in him (John 1:12). This is how God delivers us from all evil: sin, death, and the power of the devil too. These evils hold no dominance over the child of God. Why? Because God gives his grace to sinners. He is no begrudging divinity, only yielding a little of his favor. He gives abundantly from the storehouses of his grace. You cannot out-sin God’s grace (nor should you try—Rom 6:1–2). He delivers those who trust in his Word, and he does so with one grace stacked against another, his grace matching and overcoming each of your sins, and all your sin—for the sake of Christ.

Prayer: Thank you, Father, for delivering me from evil through your blessed Son. Amen.

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A Latin phrase meaning “Scripture Alone,” Sola Scriptura is one of the traditional Lutheran slogans used since the time of the Reformation. It expresses our confession that Scripture is “the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged.” Using the familiar phrase as its title, Sola Scriptura is a new, advanced-level Bible Study in a two-part series, of six chapters each, on the functional authority of Scripture. For those who would like to cover the topic in detail, there is enough material to cover one chapter in two sessions, making each part a 12-week study.

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