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Gottesblog

A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy

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On the Twelfth Day of Christmas…
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas…

This hymn was originally written in Latin by the great Bishop St. Ambrose of Milan (d. 397). We are still singing this hymn today (well, most of us, anyway). It is a treasure, a hymn that is so confessional as to almost be a creed, one that confesses the two natures of Jesus, but does so poetically, lyrically, and devotionally. It has stood the test of time because it is pure gold.

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Larry Beane Comments
Isaiah and the Virgin, and How Prophecy Works
Isaiah and the Virgin, and How Prophecy Works

In the sign is embedded this greater thing that was to come to pass. Isaiah’s wife, as everyone knew, was no virgin. The sign never fully came to realization in Isaiah’s day, though in many respects it partly did, leaving the people to expect a greater fulfillment than simply the laying waste of Syria and Ephraim.

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Burnell EckardtComment
A Sermon for New Year's Eve
A Sermon for New Year's Eve

Today is not only New Year’s Eve, it is also the seventh day of Christmas.  And as we continue to ponder the miracle of Christmas, that is, the incarnation of God into flesh, we should remember that our Lord’s coming is not just a matter of “where” (that God came to us in our material, fleshly world), but also of “when” – in time. 

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Larry Beane Comment
The Liturgy is the Gold Standard
The Liturgy is the Gold Standard

The worship at these congregations is as fake as a Zimbabwe banknote. It really is analogous to paper money, backed by nothing, and easily inflated to worthlessness. And no matter how many zeroes one adds to the piece of paper, it never becomes the equivalent of the gold that it replaced. It is rather a kind of officially-sanctioned counterfeiting.

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Larry Beane Comments
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Semper Virgo, and the Perennial Nature of Helvidiocy
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Semper Virgo, and the Perennial Nature of Helvidiocy

The time of Our Lord’s nativity, the fifth day of which we mark today, draws us to not only reflect on His incarnation, but, by extension, also to the one by whom He took on flesh: the Virgin Mary, most blessed among women (Lk. 1:42) and Mother of God. Along with that discussion come various frequent topics of discussion, perhaps regarding the clauso utero birth (cf. FC SD VII), the assumption, or, perhaps, the perennial favorite: the perpetual virginity [semper virgo] of the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. every Christian writer under the sun until about five minutes ago).

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Stefan Gramenz Comments
We Have Got to Talk About Usury (Part XVI): The Regensburg Dispute of 1587—A Lesson in Courage and Consequences  
We Have Got to Talk About Usury (Part XVI): The Regensburg Dispute of 1587—A Lesson in Courage and Consequences  

Ed: The below account of the Regensburg Dispute made my blood run cold, and the attentive reader will have no great difficulty in seeing the same patterns at work in ecclesial controversies to this day. - SG

In the middle of the sixteenth century, two opposing views were held among Lutherans with respect to interest-taking. Martin Chemnitz adhered to the traditional view, shared by Luther, that all lending at interest for profit is contrary to Holy Scripture. Others, such as Johannes Aepinus, contended that the biblical prohibition against interest applies only to lending to the poor; therefore, they argued, a distinction must be drawn in lending practices, and interest may rightly be charged to the well-to-do, at least in Zinskauf contracts. For Chemnitz, this distinction was without biblical warrant, and those who introduced it had clearly fallen into error (Loci theologici II (1653), 162). Aepinus, conversely, held that those, including Luther, who failed to make this distinction in lending had themselves committed “a pernicious error” (In psalmum XV commentarius (1543), 29). 

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