Martin Luther's Small Catechism

Eternal life contains a great deal more than the two words, life plus eternity. Eternal life is not merely endless existence. It means endless life in its highest possible state of existence.

Eternal death [is not] the eternal extinction of life, or the cessation of conscious existence. There are those who hold that in the future world the soul of the wicked shall die, just as the body does here, — that the time comes, sooner or later, when the soul ceases to act, to feel, to be; and that it will never be restored.

The Christian faith is not simply that there is to be a continuity of human life, but that the body is to be raised from the dead, reunited with its animating, controlling spirit; and thus, as a complete human being, not as soul only, but body and soul; continue to live on forever after the great awakening.

Faith, and faith alone, appropriates forgiveness. God loved the world, and gave His Son, that whosoever believeth in this Son, and the work He did, as the result of which He is able to forgive, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Who are the saints? What are the saints? What is meant by a communion of saints? Table of Contents 1. How It Is A Communion of Saints 2. Glorious Fellowship 32.

There is a great difference… between justification and sanctification. Justification is an instantaneous act of God, the results of which, however, endure forever, unless one proves a traitor to God. Sanctification, on the contrary, is a life-long process.

Justification is not the infusing of a new nature into man. It is a judicial declaration on God’s part concerning man’s relationship to Him. But it is more than a mere declaration.

The work of the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity in the plan of salvation. Without this work no one can be saved. This is the unmistakable teaching of God’s Word.

When we say, “I believe in the Holy Ghost, it means, or should mean, that we understand the Holy Ghost to be a distinct person of the Godhead. This is the unmistakable teaching of God’s Word throughout.

When truly evangelical Christians speak of debts owed to God, it is never to be understood in this sense that we consider man capable of making an adequate return to God for what He has done for us.

The true children of God have nothing to fear so far as the great Judgment is concerned, for the Judge before whom they shall appear is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The kingship of Jesus! Men in all the ages have been looking for a king, one who could fight successfully their battles, bring them deliverance, prosperity, and peace. Sometimes, in certain quarters of the world, men have thought they had found the object of their quest; some one who was able to give them the present measure of their quest.

We think of the meekness and gentleness, the tenderness and humility, of Jesus, and we cannot think too frequently, or adoringly, of these qualities; but it is a serious fault to forget, or fail to stress, the strength and courage of Jesus, the daring back of His lowliness, or the fact that, though love was His weapon, He wielded it with a knightly soldier’s hand.

Recognizing the supreme importance of this doctrine to the whole fabric of our Christian faith, the enemies of the Gospel have ever been active in trying to undermine faith in the historicity of the resurrection.

With respect to the whole article concerning the descent into hell, we should bear in mind the advice of the great reformer, and our confessions generally, to the effect that we should not give way to idle curiosity, or be led into vain speculation.

We must not fail to hold fast to the truth that Christ’s death was a real death. It was not merely the semblance of death, from which He afterwards revived; much less was it a feigned death.

Jesus Christ was, in the fullest sense of the word, the spotless Lamb of God. He never did any sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. It was love which brought Him down from heaven for the very purpose of becoming our substitute.

The prophets of old were preachers of righteousness, especially in times of indifference. They held up the demands of God’s Law. They denounced sin. They pictured in fiery eloquence God’s wrath against it, and pressed home in telling terms the consequences of sin unrepented of, and unpardoned.

For a man to be able to say that Jesus Christ is his Lord means not only that He is recognized to be truly the Son of God as well as the Son of man; but it means also the unreserved acceptance, in true faith, of Jesus Christ as his deliverer from sin and death and devil.

In our day these clauses, “conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,” are seriously called into question. There are those who not only want them left out of the creed, but declare that it is a grievous wrong to retain them and insist on their acceptance as an article of faith.