In the “our Father” [the Lord’s Prayer], we not only pray for the forgiveness of sins, but also for daily bread and food. Thus, we confess with this that we cannot only not make payment for our sin before God the Lord, but that we are also unable to earn our daily bread. Instead, we […]

By their fruits you will know them. This is not to be understood as the external fruits of life, for on occasion false teaching and outwardly impeccable behavior exist together while, conversely, healthy, wholesome teaching and a wicked life can exist together as well, of which Judas, Christ’s betrayer, is an example. Instead, one must distinguish […]

“What are we to do when we find ourselves in such a wilderness? We should remind ourselves that the Lord God has led us there, as written about Christ in Matthew 4:1 – the Holy Spirit had brought Him there. We should endure even if deliverance is not soon forthcoming. One cannot escape such wilderness […]

It is not amiss to understand this wedding as the spiritual union of the Church and each and every believing soul with Christ…. Nonetheless, since the call of the Christian Church is presented to us in the words of the parable as distinct from the wedding, it seems somewhat closer to the text if we […]

For just as skirmishes usually precede the arrival of the actual massive slaughter [of the battle], so also Christ – before He wanted to deliver the death blow, slaughtering the devil with His suffering, death, descent into hell, and resurrection – first wanted to attack him with a routine, initial strike, as we see in […]