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Werner Elert on the Law and the Christian Life
On the Law’s validity in the Church: Here the law has its necessary and abiding place in the preaching of the church as well as in the lives of its members. It serves not in the construction of the new man but in the destruction of the old. It must incessantly tell us…
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Werner Elert on the “Third Use of the Law”
On The Question of the Law’s “Third Function”: The Formula of Concord approaches the issue from Melanchton’s perspective, but phrases its answer with much more precision then he. One might summarize its position as follows: the question of the need for an informatory function in the (unattainable) ideal case of a perfect saint is…
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Third Use of The Law?
“One errs if he thinks he can preach the Law in such a way that it does not accuse but only guides. It might be possible that it serve as a guide, but it always accuses. Accordingly, the “third use” (or “third function”) of the Law (FC VI) is best explained in this way: the…
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Luther on Music
Forward to Georg Rhau’s Collection, “Symphoniae iucundae.” I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ!I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and…
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Bavinck On The Difference Between the Lutherans and Calvinists
“For all the agreement between them–extending even to the confession of predestination–there was from the very beginning an important difference between the German and the Swiss Reformation… Historical researches into the characteristic difference between the two in recent years have clearly demonstrated that underlying the split is a difference of principle… The difference seems to…
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John Frame on Oscar Cullmann and the Already but Not Yet
“In his atonement Jesus destroyed the power of sin, yet sin will cling to us until his return. He has destroyed Satan in principle, but this victory will not be consummated until the Lord’s return. Oscar Cullmann compares this to the distinction between D-day and V-day in World War II. On D-day Allied troops entered…