The Apology - Or Defense - Of the Augsburg Confession.

Melanchthon and Luther are on YouTube.

I.   Europe considered Melanchthon a genius. He could have gone many places to be Number 1 there.

II.  Luther thought of Melanchthon as an ideal partner in their religious work together. 

III. When Luther died, Melanchthon preached the sermon.

Those are three reasons people should have the highest regard for Melanchthon, the key person writing the Augsburg Confession and the author of its defense - The Apology of the Augsburg Confession. We should use the old-fashioned and perfectly good words - like Apology - so we do not end up like Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot, and Puff - endlessly repeating short words to make up for a lack of study.

The Internet has proven to be the greatest achievement in communication since a wine press was turned into a printing press. Every book became available at a low price, and illustrated lessons, like the Small Catechism, could be printed by the thousands. Radio and TV were intermediate steps but both require plenty of money for an individual to launch. Having a computer and broadband is cheaper now than owning a used car.

Listening to something worthwhile has grown as a hobby, even a necessity, for many people. If it is easy to access and free, time spent watching scripted celebrities can be converted to enjoying the treasures of the Gospel. 

Of course! If the leaders know and appreciate the Apology, so will their members. Lutherans have gone through many times when the Reformation was little more than a dimly remembered spark. Times of recapturing the witness - the Defense - of the Gospel has always been rewarding for those on the verge of becoming generic atheists.

Picture the classic church library. When I was tied to real estate and buildings, the library was invariably a collection of Reader's Digest Condensed Books that nobody read or wanted.  Our current church library  - on the Internet - has almost 300 classic books as PDFs and is moving toward 100 printed books.

We have over 100 people on Facebook looking for free Lutheran books for world missionaries.

Over 300 are on the Facebook page for Classic Lutheran Books.

America's Founders Were Literate. Seminaries Are Graduating Illiterates

 

Our expert in education mentioned Charlotte Iserbyt to me more than once. Alec Satin also mentioned her - with delight - as the author of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. Iserbyt's books sell for $200-$450 on Alibris used books. I read that the Amazon prices were higher.

I probably read the book a long time ago, because it was my mother's contention as well, teaching in the public schools and seeing the required reading get mushier all the time. I was scandalized in second grade, when I had to read such lines as

"See Jane run. Run, run, run.

Run, Jane, run.

Look, look, look." Dick, Jane, and Spot

In Moline, we enjoyed the good fortune of having teachers who were educated in the 1930s and earlier. They did their best in giving us a classical education, including Latin for anyone who even thought of going to college. For the last 60+ years I have seen the quality of education go downhill. Latin is as rare as a genuine Biden sighting.

Thanksgiving and the stolen election remind us of our duty to remember the past, recall the hardships, and use past heroics as inspiration for the future.

Cole, The Empire in Decline

America's Founders Were Literate

When I was thrown into teaching world religion to undergraduates, I had to learn more about the rise of the Ottoman Empire. I got the full set of Gibbon and enjoyed the background of those often ignored years - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

The books came out starting in 1776, a year familiar to many. Did they have an impact? I remember my parents saying, "We are going the way of the Roman Empire." That was around the dinner table in the 1950s. Few would know how to start that topic now.

Seminaries Are Graduating Illiterates

We should not be surprised that all the denominations have dumbed down in harmony - or is it collusion? - with public education. All the so-called church schools are owned by the same philosophies, bought with federal funds and doled out for doing what is "right."

Did the clergy battle against the original text of the Bible being turned into a game of Monopoly? They gave up that battle about 100 years ago.

That supposedly minor concession led to everyone having his own personal translation (Otten-Beck) and his own favorite dogma to promote - OJ and Church Growth among many, both flowering in the muck of do-it-yourself Bibles.

Cub Editor Phil Hale Loves His Garbled Words So Much, He Uses Them as Filler in Calvinist News

Hale's reliance on Calvin and Halle Pietism is honored in this Photofunia.
"A dolt is just a dolt, a slogan just a slogan.
The fundamentalist things apply, as time goes by."

CN editor Phil Hale - From His Bizarre, Self-Published Aspects of Forgiveness, which means he is self-publishing his self-publishing.

It is true that we are justified (individually) by faith, but this slogan is just that—a slogan, and not a full representation of the teaching of forgiveness in God’s Word. In fact, this minimalistic stereotype leaves out the most important factor of justification: Christ and His work. However, for the modern deniers of objective justification—who claim that there is no aspect of, or basis for, justification before faith—this is said to be the only proper way to speak of justification: There is no ‘‘faithless, universal justification,’’ because there can only be ‘‘one justification taught in Scripture—that of ‘justification by grace through faith’.’’1 It is a historically Lutheran way of speaking, though it has become an identifying phrase for Protestants in general. The issue is not the words themselves, but what they are used to say and avoid saying. 

Stay tuned for Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies.

‘‘In normal Biblical and ecclesiastical usage the terms ‘justify’ and ‘justification’ refer to the (‘subjective’) justification of the individual sinner through faith.’’2 However, Satan does not rest, and false doctrine is not stagnant. We must be careful using 400-yearold phrases without fully understanding what they were used to express and reject. We cannot rule out the possibility of a new error that hides behind traditional Lutheran slogans. 

While the modern denial of objective justification says that objective justification is a new teaching, the reverse is actually true: the term is new, to be sure, but Christians are free to use any words to express the truth of God. There is no legalistic, ceremonial rule forbidding new terms or expanded meanings. The issue is whether the teaching, not the language, conforms to Scripture. It is the denial of objective justification that is new, though due to historical circumstances, it was not a teaching at the forefront until recently. 

The concept expressed by objective justification is assumed and implicit in the understanding of pre-modern Lutherans because Scripture teaches an objective aspect to justification. It is the denial of the universal application and extent of Christ’s redemptive work that is actually new.3

1 Vernon H. Harley, ‘‘Synergism—Its Logical Association with General or Universal Justification,’’ 1984. 

2 CTCR, ‘‘Theses on Justification.’’ 

3 Even classical Calvinists hold to an objective reconciliation, according to 2 Cor. 5:19, but only for the elect. 

Hale's pacifier - OJ/SJ - comes from the Calvinist translation of Halle Professor G. C. Knapp's Christian Theology. The pacifier is old and slimy, obviously decaying, but so comforting to Enthusiasts who venerate Walther and Calvin.

From Rush Limbaugh's Father - Worth Remembering - "Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor"

RUSH INTRODUCTION: My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it was published in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words, which you will see evidenced here:

"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor"

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the Southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

On the wall at the back, facing the president's desk, was a panoply -- consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"

Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure about which there was discussion but no dissension. "Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York."

Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was replaced by "must read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and inalienable rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this day no one knows who suggested the elegant change.

A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote.

Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a Virginian, sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands. For several hours they worked on many other problems before adjourning for the day.

Much To Lose

What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half - 24 - were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, nine were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th Century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward. Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office as vice president of the United States. Several would go on to be US Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and philosopher of the signers. (It was he, Francis Hopkinson not Betsy Ross who designed the United States flag.)

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law.

"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens."

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.

William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the signers' faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no face was he able to discern real fear." Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."

"Most Glorious Service"

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

• Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered -- and his estates in what is now Harlem -- completely destroyed by British Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

• William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home they found a devastated ruin.

• Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

• Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.

• John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

• Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college library in the country.

• Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause.He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of the Revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.

• Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry.

• George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.

• Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.

• John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to my country."

• William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.

• Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and on the voyage, he and his young bride were drowned at sea.

• Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.

• Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson's palatial home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my home?"They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

Lives, Fortunes, Honor

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No."

The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

RUSH EPILOGUE: My friends, I know you have a copy of the Declaration of Independence somewhere around the house - in an old history book (newer ones may well omit it), an encyclopedia, or one of those artificially aged "parchments" we all got in school years ago. I suggest that each of you take the time this month to read through the text of the Declaration, one of the most noble and beautiful political documents in human history.

There is no more profound sentence than this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..."

These are far more than mere poetic words. The underlying ideas that infuse every sentence of this treatise have sustained this nation for more than two centuries. They were forged in the crucible of great sacrifice. They are living words that spring from and satisfy the deepest cries for liberty in the human spirit.

"Sacred honor" isn't a phrase we use much these days, but every American life is touched by the bounty of this, the Founders' legacy. It is freedom, tested by blood, and watered with tears.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/pages/static/my_father_s_speech

Yes, I Am Optimistic

I am an unpaid predicter of the future, so my opinions are not weighed down by pay-offs. I believe the current crisis will be solved correctly, but there will be a lot of short-term turmoil. That is based upon the known evidence, the power of the office, and the knowledge of the populace. This is the ultimate challenge.

Shakespeare - Henry V - St. Crispin's Day Speech

Sir Lawrence Olivier as King Henry V

We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

US Constitution Is the Governing Authority, Not the Judicial System or the Media

The key to presidential elections is the US Constitution, not the courts, state officials, or the media.

If the state legislature has enacted rules on the conduct of the election, no state judge can alter them. The Constitution gives the state lawmakers that role alone. 

The election can be moved to the House. In that case, the GOP and Democrat delegations will vote, not individual Democrats versus individual GOP. More delegations are GOP.

Thus the issue has been decided already. Trump will remain president.

The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, 2020

The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, 2020

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Standard Time

The Hymn #8                    Father Who the Light This Day
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #334            Let Me Be Thine Forever

The Faith of Christ

The Communion Hymn #316                O Living Bread  
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 309               O Jesus Blessed Lord 

In Our Prayers

• In treatment - Mary Howell, Christina Jackson, Rush Limbaugh.
• Our mission - Rice delivered, and parish laptop energized.
• The Veterans Honor roses are in honor of our veterans.

KJV Philippians 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20 For our conversation [ πολιτευμα, citizenship ] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

KJV Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

Twenty-Third Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father: we thank Thee that Thou hast hitherto granted us peace and graciously spared us from war and foreign dominion: We pray Thee, graciously let us continue to live in Thy fear according to Thy will, giving no cause for wars or other punishment; govern and direct our magistrates, that they may not hinder the obedience due to Thee, but maintain righteousness, that we may enjoy happiness and blessing under their government, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Background for the Sermon on Philippians 3:17-23

The context for today's Epistle is the the righteousness of faith -

Philippians 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

αλλα την δια πιστεως χριστου την εκ θεου δικαιοσυνην επι τη πιστει

First of all, people tend to think of Biblical righteousness as the righteousness of the Law, which Paul practiced to perfection. However, that is not the Gospel and can never obtain eternal life. The true righteousness is the righteousness of the faith of Christ. In several places, here and also Romans 3, Paul writes about the faith of Christ, widely ignored. 

If we truly understand the Two Natures in Christ, human and divine, we can see what Paul meant and the Holy Spirit inspired. The Gospel begins with The Faith of Christ. Because of His human nature, He could be tempted (Matthew 4) but He did not sin - because of His divine nature. He wanted the cup of sorrows, torture and crucifixion taken from Him, but in faith He prayed, "Not My will, Father, but Yours."

When the Gospel moves us to welcome this message of forgiveness and salvation, it begins with the righteousness of Christ and His faith, so that His faith moves us to faith in Him and His righteousness. Unlike the righteousness of the Law, which is never enough and never satisfied, the righteousness of faith in Jesus is enough and takes away all sins.

The Faith of Christ

Philippians 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. 5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

This section is one where Paul bragged about himself, but for a reason. People today find fault with his bragging without thinking what it means. The Judaizers, who are still numerous in the Church, boasted in Paul's time about themselves. Then as now, they believed their own merits made them great. And they included their fine ancestry with that, as they do today. Paul's resume mocks theirs because he has even greater claims and includes persecuting the Church with his perfection in the Law. He was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, very strict in observing the Law, which is why he persecuted the followers of Christ. 

So the Judaizers today do not openly deny Christ but within the Church claim one must have the attributes of Christ and do the works of law they prescribe. 

 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

However, everything Paul might boast about  were nothing compared to Christ at work in him. This is his way of discounting their merits and his as well, because they are detrimental in viewing their place in the Kingdom of God. The ultimate result of such boasting is to divide people and discount what Christ has done. The most dangerous kind of Christianity, one might argue, is to mix it with other elements or claims that do not belong.

Claims of ancestry always amuse me because we have nothing to do with the past. We did not pick our grandparents, our ethnic base, our early Christian education. Some want to lay claim for the right sect, the right birth location, the right parochial school. Our past is good to know. I mentioned one part of the family that could not make a living from free land. That encouraged them to move to Iowa, where they left their quasi-Christian cult for Protestantism. When my wife teases me about gardening, I mention both my grandfathers being farmers, and one earning his agriculture degree at the U. of Illinois. That was very rare. The farmer gene did not manifest itself until after graduate school, but it became dominant. It was George Washington's most prized title - farmer.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 

None of that matters, says Paul, except for the surpassing value of knowing Christ our Lord. That does not mean academic knowledge among scholars who have no faith. Someone can earn a PhD in Biblical studies and simply know what the famous ones have said before. As I said before, that ancestry goes back to the rationalism at Halle University. Faith in Christ is side-stepped or mocked, and is not part of the actual dissertation (though there could be some exceptions). 

John 17:3 - knowing Christ is salvation. That means faith in Him, a faith that lets go of human claims (rejecting the Virgin birth, accepting only certain miracles) and sees as its goal the best possible understanding of the Word itself. That includes a different kind of education, how the Word interprets the Word because the entire Bible is a perfect harmony. 

The Fourth Gospel mocks the great scholars who do not believe. The great lessons of the Gospels are summarized and explained in John's Gospel in the simplest possible words and grammar. As one reader said, that Gospel became (and not by accident) the ideal way to learn a new language. Its German and French is just as easy as its Greek. I studied John in French to pass a French test. Not passing meant dropping out of graduate school. Notre Dame gave me a passage of John to translate into English - and somehow I passed. 

Everyone subordinates. One thing is more important than another at the moment. Some ideas are more important. True knowledge of Christ means subordinating the claims of man and welcoming the plain revelation of God, the unique truths of the Scriptures - really one harmonious truth.

That can be compared to a garden, where many plants grow together, flowering and fruiting at different times. Birds come and go according to their engineering, and their calendars match up with the plants. Some are great bug eaters, but others like seeds. Whatever is happening, they have a role to play. Late in the season, when most plants are done providing food for them, berries and seedpods appear to get them through the difficult times.

We are like the squirrels, who love food placed for them but want the best and most for themselves. I noticed in New Ulm, Minnesota that the squirrels could be very snooty about the food they wanted most, such as fat sunflower seeds rather than corn kernels. But when we had the ultimate ice storm, coating everything with heavy ice, the squirrels had a different attitude. They saw corn kernels embedded in the thick ice on the home's ledges outside. Starving, they worked hard for each kernel, prying it loose to get those calories inside to keep them warm.

The true knowledge of Christ means knowing His natures, divine and human, united in One Person. People can talk all day and read tons of books, but if they do not know what the Word reveals, they are still in darkness.

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Most translations write "faith in Christ," and I used the RSV and NIV until rather recently, the last 20 years. I was reading a lesson to the congregation from the New KJV, and it said "faith of Christ," which appears here, in Romans 3, and Ephesians. I looked at and thought - is this in the original. And it is. And I learned a couple of people wrote about this as "the faith that belongs to Christ."

One studied under my favorite and best Scripture scholars, who were at Yale when I was there. He wrote the book, The Faith of Jesus.

Faith is not a factual conclusion or a decision, even though it has been taught that way. This phrase makes us think of Jesus' human nature, which is only right. The Church has always confessed His human nature. He was conceived, born, and died - all attributes of humanity, though in a miraculous, a unique way.

One LCMS pastor yelled, "Christ was incapable of sinning," a typical error of those who shout rather than study. Jesus was tempted to sin, but did not sin. His human nature is emphasized in the temptation in the desert. He was hungry. He could defy his human nature and be borne up by angels. He could be Master of the Earth by worshiping Satan. The temptation and the crucifixion of Christ are the unforgettable examples of His human nature. 

Jesus the Word Incarnate had (and has) faith - from the point of His becoming flesh. All the commands, teaching, miracles, and fulfillments of the Old Testament were obeyed because of His faith. He faced torture, betrayal, and death because of His faith in God the Father. The Trinity is a mystery revealed by the Spirit and so is this concept of the Son's faith.

There is no escaping the meaning of the phrase, which the KJV alone retains. What does that say about translations? They have not been ashamed to drop other important doctrines, like the Virgin Birth (early RSV).

Paul sought man-made righteousness, the righteousness of the Law, and he was a master of that thinking and doing. But the true righteousness comes through the faith of Jesus, What He accomplished and taught came from His trust in the Father's will, compassion, and grace. 

Notice this is the familiar phrase of the Reformation, Justification by Faith, which was first articulated in Genesis 15:6 - he believed and it was counted and righteousness.

Our righteousness comes from the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ is the agent (the doer) of our forgiveness and salvation. From the faith that belongs to Him, we receive faith in Him, the righteousness of God by faith.

Paul said it in Romans 3, 4, and 5 too, using the "faith of Jesus" in chapter 3. So this is another example of teaching us the same truth in various ways so it sinks into our hard heads.

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Many things trouble us through life, and many remedies are offered. Some are practical and good, such as understanding our birth order (Kevin Leman) and what vocations we would be good at or enjoy. But we can also run into false messiahs and false solutions that try to replace the Christian Faith with their often suddenly discovered truth (You Must Enroll in Our Program!)

Nothing is more stabilizing and healing than knowledge of Christ. That transforms and even elevates our suffering. There are many kinds of losses but in this Christ is our Redeemer and Savior.