Martin Luther – Grace Evangelical Society

Pray to God, and Wash Your Hands

March 20, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - coronavirus, Martin Luther

How should Christians act during the coronavirus epidemic? There have been many epidemics throughout the history of the church. For example, in 1527, there was an outbreak of plague in Martin Luther’s city of Wittenberg. Since Luther was a pastor’s pastor, many asked him for advice. Here’s some of what he told them: I shall

The Short Commandment

March 19, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - love, Martin Luther, spirituality

Jesus commanded you to love (Mark 12:31). Paul said that if you do not have love, you are nothing (1 Cor 13:2). And John said “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14). Love is key, but what does it

Find the Poor, Sick, and Needy, and Serve Them

March 16, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - love, Martin Luther, spirituality, Tuomo Mannermaa

Since Jesus gave you everlasting life by simply believing in Him (John 3:15-16, 36; Eph 2:8-9), what should you be doing with all your free time? You don’t need to be earning, keeping, or securing your eternal salvation—so that eliminates 99% of what usually passes for religious activity in the world—so what kinds of things should you

Keith Giles on God’s Wrath

November 1, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Keith Giles, Law and Gospel, Martin Luther, preaching, wrath

I was reading up on house churches when I stumbled across this post from Keith Giles (whom I am not familiar with, but who has written about “organic churches”). He argues that wrath is not one of the attributes of God. That’s clearly wrong. Wrath is definitely one of the attributes of God. If God shows wrath at any time, then it’s an attribute you can predicate on God. It might not

Just Let Him Go: Luther on How to Respond to Atheists

May 29, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - apologetics, atheism, atheist, Martin Luther

I love apologetics. I started witnessing a couple of months after I became a Christian at the age of seventeen. The first group I went to was the local Muslim student association. I remember they gave me a tract alleging that Christians believe in three gods. “We do?” I said. From that moment on, I became invested in apologetics (or what used to be called “Christian Evidences”). The more

Created and Re-Created Freely

November 27, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Creation, Martin Luther, Oswald Bayer

“Luther’s doctrine of justification has frequently been attacked for being monotonous, empty, and even obsessive.” So notes Oswald Bayer in his article, “Justification as the Basis and Boundary of Theology.” Sound familiar? GES’s emphasis on the promise of everlasting life has faced the same criticism. Bayer continues to explain that Emmanuel Swedenborg caricatured Lutherans in

Anguish for Godly Ministers (Galatians 1:6)

September 5, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Galatians, liberalism, Martin Luther

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel” (Gal 1:6). Did you know that Harvard was founded to train ministers, specifically Puritans, to preach the gospel? Then liberals snuck in, and instead of starting their own school, they parasitically took over

J. I. Packer and The Bondage of Tradition

May 28, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - bondage of the will, Free-will, J.I. Packer, Martin Luther, Total depravity

J. I. Packer, the famed Reformed Anglican theologian, has written more book forewords than anyone I know. It seems that every book published by a Calvinist either has a foreword or an endorsement written by Packer. Packer, along with O. R. Johnston, translated Martin Luther’s The Bondage of the Will (Westwood, NJ: Revell, 1957). They