Adoration of the Magi Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 17th Century

Epiphany 2013, Vol. 2.1
The magazine of the Institute of Lutheran Theology
Adoration of the Magi
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
17th Century

ILT Board of Directors
G. Barry Anderson,
Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Baltz
Pastor, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Galena, IL
Paul Erickson,
Entrepreneur/Investor, Sioux Falls, SD
Debra Hesse,
Family Farmer, Moses Lake, WA
Dr. Hans J. Hillerbrand,
Professor of Religion, Duke University
Rev. Mark Richardson,
Interim Service Coordinator, Augustana District,
LCMC; Associate Pastor, Christ the
King Lutheran Church, Hutchinson, MN
Fred Schickedanz,
Real Estate Developer, Calgary, Alberta
Rev. Kip Tyler,
Senior Pastor, Lutheran Church of the Master,
Omaha, NE, and Chair of the Board
ILT Staff
Rev. Dr. Dennis D. Bielfeldt, Ph.D.
President and CEO
president@ilt.org
Dr. Doug S. Dillner, Ph.D.
Academic Services
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Rev. David R. Patterson
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and ILT Productions
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Rev. Timothy J. Swenson
Student Services & Admissions
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Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Baltz, D. Min.
Evangelism and Outreach
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Rev. Douglas V. Morton
Theological Publications &
Theological Librarian
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Constance J. Sorenson
Congregational Services
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2
Rev. Eric J. Swensson
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Library
Contents: The Word at Work
p3 Beginning to See the Light
Rev. Dr. Dennis D. Bielfeldt, Ph.D.
p4 To Be Announced!
Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Baltz, D. Min.
Meet One of our Graduates
Dale A. Swenson
p5 The Lifelong Learner
Dr. Doug S. Dillner, Ph.D
p6 The Necessity of Educating
Pastor-Theologians
Rev. Douglas V. Morton
p9 The Glad God
Rev. Dr. George H. Muedeking, D.D., Ph.D
From Christmas to the Cross
Pr. David R. Patterson
p10 Holiday Preaching
Rev. Tim J. Ryearson
p11 Necessary Ingredients!
Constance J. Sorenson
p12 The Ruins of Christendom
Rev. Timothy J. Swenson
p13 The Gift at Christmas: Christ and the
Gospel in Luther's Church Postils
Rev. Eric J. Swensson
p15 Since the Beginning
Marsha L. Schmit
Four Additional Means to Support ILT in
2013 that Benefit You as Well
Marsha Schmit - Managing Editor
Robert Murrin - Editor
Charles Kulma - Graphic Design and production
Institute of Lutheran Theology
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Web Site: http://www.ilt.org

Beginning to See the Light
“As the days
lengthen, the weather
strengthens.” Oldtimers
use to say this
on the northwest Iowa
farms of my youth.
I remember always
being amazed by the
fact that the days
got colder when the
light grew longer. It
seemed to me that
more sunshine should
bring warmer air. Why
the paradoxical result of colder temperatures with increasing
sunshine?
I now know how it is that high pressure systems descending
from the arctic affect northwest Iowa temperatures much more
than the increasing angle of inclination of the sun’s rays. As
it turns out, there are rather precise physical causes for this
phenomenon. What seemed odd at first turns out to be wholly
predictable.
In this Epiphany time of longer days, we celebrate a wholly
unpredictable event: The revelation of God the Son as a human
being in Jesus the Christ. Just as unexpected and unpredictable
as the Fall of God’s creation into sin, is the reconciliation of
God’s fallen creation in the God-man, Jesus Christ. Just as
reason can find nothing in creation that logically implies
the Fall, it can find nothing in fallen creation that implies its
salvation. At one level, a paradox is simply that which counters
prevailing expectation.
But there is a deeper paradox in this season of Light. It is not
just that one does not expect God to unite with human flesh;
reason does not help us see how it is even possible! This kind of
paradox sets the head buzzing.
Men in a town can either shave themselves or go to the town’s
one barber. That barber is the man who thus shaves all and
only those men who don’t shave themselves. But who shaves
the barber? There are two possibilities. He can either shave
himself or go to the barber. (He is thus either a member of, or
not a member of, the class of all men in town who don’t shave
themselves.) But if he shaves himself then he is by definition
not shaved by the barber; yet if he is shaved by the barber, then
he doesn’t shave himself. The paradox is real because he is the
barber.
Something like this is at work when considering the light of
Epiphany. God is God and thus not a human being. A human
being is a human being and thus is not God. Yet the divine that
never can be human and the human that never can be divine are
By Rev. Dr. Dennis D. Bielfeldt
President, Institute of Lutheran Theology
united in one person: Jesus the Christ. This being is as impossible
as the one barber of the town, who in shaving himself, is not
shaved by himself, and who in not shaving himself, is shaved by
himself. God, in being man, is not God and man in being God is
not man. Yet in the light of Epiphany, we affirm that to be God
is to be the God who is man and thus not God.
Our faith is grounded in a paradoxical affirmation of a different
order than mere non-expectation. Our faith rests on something
that, at a logical level, simply cannot be. The light of reason is
thrown back upon itself and in its darkness understands that
Christ is the true light that illuminates the world; it recognizes
that it is only in the darkness of reason that human beings really
do begin to see the light.
Within the Institute of Lutheran Theology’s Christ School of
Theology, students have opportunity to explore deeply the
paradox of the Infinite becoming finite in Jesus Christ. In
order to understand what reason cannot understand, students
are pushed to think about what can be understood. Such an
education is not new. It is, in fact, in this way very much like the
education that Luther received at Erfurt. We believe that Luther
got a very good education and that if theological education now
was as rigorous as it was then, things in the Church would be
quite different.
The old-timers knew that what was not initially expected with
the weather is actually what is. Here in the Christ School of
Theology we seek to unpack how that which reason rejects
is what God has actually done. We believe it to be important
work. To proclaim the Word in our increasingly suspicious
times demands that we know exactly what it is that we
are talking about.
"Therefore it is a high article to believe that
this infant, born of Mary, is true God; for
nobody's reason can ever accept the fact
that he who created heaven and earth and
is adored by the angels was born of a virgin.
. . . Nobody believes it except he who also
knows this faith, namely, that this child is
the Lord and Savior."
-- Martin Luther, "Sermon on the Afternoon of Christmas
Day 1530," Sermons I, Vol. 51 in Luther's Works.
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959, p. 212.
3

4
I have a son who works part-time in a hardware
store. He reported that some members of the local
Jehovah’s Witnesses church came into the store,
looked at the Christmas season decorations for
sale, and said to one another in words too loud not
to be overheard, that the Bible does not command
us to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Now if that
means there is no, “You shall celebrate the birth
of Jesus,” they are right. But the minute we ask
what the angels in Luke 2 were doing, we know
the answer: they were celebrating—with singing! And what of
the shepherds? Of course, they were celebrating, also. “And the
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had
To Be Announced!
By Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Baltz
Director of Evangelism and Missions
heard and seen, as it had been told them (Luke 2:20). The birth
of Jesus is to be celebrated! What part of “good news of great
joy that will be to all the people” don’t some people understand?
Just as the angels and the shepherds must be understood as
celebrating, they must also be understood as announcing. As the
angels appeared to tell the shepherds, the shepherds told others
starting with Mary and Joseph, but not limited to them at all.
The birth of Jesus is to be celebrated, and it is also to be
announced.
Meet One of Our Graduates
Greg Longtin is a 2012 spring
recipient of the Pastoral Ministry
Certificate from the Institute of
Lutheran Theology (ILT). He states,
“I was able to take the information I
used in class and immediately use it
within the context of worship. I am
very pleased with the quality of the
education I was receiving at that level
and glad that I chose ILT over other
options available.” The self-described
“hands-on” learner successfully
employed the lessons of “Lutheran doctrine
and emphasis on how you can use this
as a pastor.”
For many years a call to ministry had
nagged at Greg, who is fifty-one. As a youth
in Crookston, Minnesota he had served the
Catholic Church as an Altar Boy on a regular
basis. “My first feel for a call was sometime
when I was about sixteen, during the time I
was an altar boy. My parents made church an
important part of our lives, and we attended
mass and religious studies on a regular basis,”
recalls Greg. However, when he met his wife-tobe
and attended a Lutheran church with her, he
was impressed to find that the lay people knew a
lot about their denomination and why they did most
of the things they do. Greg and Judy married on
September 4, 1982, and joined the Lutheran church.
“This call came back to me from time to time up to the
By Dale A. Swenson
Greg Longtin
point in 2009 when the urge to respond to it became impossible
to hide away,” Greg notes.
In 2009 Greg and Judy sold their business of seventeen years
and their house. They left church life at Hopeful Lutheran
Church in Florence, Kentucky where Greg had been involved
with education, council, maintenance, developing their website,
and served as worship leader in various capacities and as
council president during a one million dollar building addition
- packed and moved to Columbia, South Carolina where Greg
started toward a Masters of Divinity degree at the Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary-ELCA.
But Greg’s discernment process found him
challenging his choice of seminary. He felt
called to a mission ministry and was “ready
to follow where God would send [him].”
He and Judy moved away from campus
housing in January of 2010 and began a
part-time contract call with a small group
of people who had left an ELCA church in
Easley, South Carolina. The relationship
blossomed into a regular contract call as
of August 1, 2012 and Greg was ordained
on August 25, 2012.
Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Easley,
South Carolina called Greg to a parttime
call (he also works at Target as
a sales associate). The church was
formed in January of 2010 with
Continued on page 5

Every morning I read the Wikipedia
front page. It is a particularly
enjoyable way for me to get the
gray-matter energized. Each day,
Wikipedia has a “Featured Article”
and a “Did you know” section, both
of which can transport me, along
with my morning coffee, to points
here, there, and everywhere, and
it is usually much more enjoyable
than reading about the current
political skirmishes in D.C. Today,
I ran across a page about Lifelong
Learners. It begins,
“Lifelong learning is the ‘ongoing,
voluntary, and self-motivated’
pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional
reasons. Therefore, it not only enhances social inclusion, active
citizenship and personal development, but also competitiveness
and employability.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifelong_
learning, retrieved 29 November, 2012)
Please allow me to take a few minutes of your time to unpack
this in light of what ILT can provide.
All of the students who come to ILT appear very self-motivated
to enhance their futures by learning more of God’s plan for
their lives. One of our students was moved to begin taking
Open Studies classes with ILT because he wanted a deeper
understanding of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He did this as a way of
personal development as a Lutheran Christian. Interestingly, this
first step led him to make a choice to matriculate into our Master
of Divinity (MDiv) program so that he could become a pastor!
Amazing where the Lord takes us, is it not? Wonderful how this
hunger to learn more led this individual toward a (second) career
Meet One of Our Graduates, continued from page 4
about twenty-eight people. It currently has a membership of
about sixty-five and worships around thirty every week.
Greg continues his education with ILT pursuing a Master of Arts
in Religion degree. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from the University of North Dakota (1985) in theater design
(technical, production, sound, and lighting). Greg’s previous
jobs include Technical Director of a theatre, Theatre/Equipment
Manager for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio,
The Lifelong Learner
By Dr. Doug S. Dillner
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
as a pastor through his initial choice for personal development!
I have learned that curiosity can do more than kill a cat.
Curiosity can be the first, very small step toward a whole vista
of possibilities in life. Moses showed curiosity when he said,
“I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not
burned” (Ex 3:1-3 ESV). What would have happened if he was
not moved by his curiosity? Well, I am sure he would have found
another way to achieve his ends. But all of us must strive to be
sensitive to the nudges of God in our lives, like Moses’ curiosity
with the bush.
Maybe you are curious to find out more about how to evangelize?
As you will recall, we are told—specifically—to do this in Matt
28: 18-20. Well, here is a first step; ILT is currently offering a
course entitled “The Story of Evangelism.” The synopsis reads:
The history of the church is to a great extent the history of
its evangelism. This course follows the evangelistic activity
of the church from its roots in the Old Testament through
its emergence in the New Testament and on through the
centuries to the present time of unprecedented conversion
to the Christian faith. The story includes periods of church
expansion as well as decline, movements to celebrate and
events to repudiate. Theologies and practices of evangelism
will be discussed, and also the related discipline of
apologetics. Students will learn lessons from the successes
and failures of the past for their evangelical ministry today.
Interested? It is easy. Simply sign-up as one of our “Open
Studies” students and there you are! You may well find that
this moves you to a new episode in your life—one, perhaps,
placed before you by God? Visit our “How to Apply” section
under “Students” in our menu bar at www.ILT.org, and
see what enhancement God has in store for you. Are you a
Lifelong Learner?
outside sales rep for a lighting company, and owner/operator
with Judy of a custom bed linens business (primarily for the
boating industry). Judy has a BS degree in Consumer Clothing
and Textiles from the University of North Dakota and currently
works as the Embroidery Shop Supervisor at Entire Image.
5

6
The Necessity of Educating Pastor-Theologians
The word “Pastor” is Latin for a
feeder, a herdsman, particularly
a shepherd. 1 A “Theologus”
(Theologian) is one who treats
of the Deity and of divine
things. 2 At the Institute of
Lutheran Theology, we use
the hyphenated term “Pastor-
Theologian” to describe what
we believe pastors are supposed
to be. Possibly the closest we
come to this hyphenated word
in the Bible is “Pastor-Teacher”
in Ephesians 4:11-16:
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and
some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for
the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs
to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be
children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to
grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together
by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper
working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body
for the building up of itself in love” (NASB).
The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and in the
Greek text of Ephesians, the words “apostles,” “prophets,” and
“evangelists,” have the definite article “the” before them. The text
says, “the apostles,” “the prophets,” “the evangelists.” 3 However,
the Greek text containing the phrase “pastors and teachers”
has the definite article (“the”) only before the word “pastors.”
This could indicate that the definite article governs both the
word “pastors” and the word “teachers.” Thus, “the pastors and
teachers” in Ephesians 4:11 would be one and the same, not two
separate gifts or offices. Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession
recognizes the teaching function of the pastor when it states, “It
is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach
or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular
By Rev. Douglas V. Morton
Director of Theological Publications & Theological Librarian
call.” 4 It is not that God gave the church “pastors,” and that he
also gave the church “teachers” (although there are teachers who
are not pastors), but rather that God gifted his church with those
who were “Pastor-Teachers.” Australian Lutheran exegete John
Strelan writes, “Pastors and teachers are not two additional
groups, but one group whose work is to be teaching shepherds.” 5
Shepherding God’s people means teaching God’s people. In
other words, those who shepherd God’s people are to be Pastor-
Teachers or Pastor-Theologians. A Pastor-Theologian cares for
God’s people. However, included in that caring is teaching God’s
people about God and divine things.
We at the Institute of Lutheran Theology exist to educate pastors
who care for their people by teaching the truth of the Gospel.
In other words, we are here to educate Pastor-Theologians. So
often in today’s world, the Pastoral Ministry is seen as little
more than glorified social work, or as leading the congregational
organization. A pastor is expected to be a “good buddy” to
parishioners, someone who can counsel them and help them
with their self-esteem. Also, a pastor is seen as one who can
make sure the wheels of the church organization run correctly
and smoothly, just like any CEO. Yet the true responsibility
of a pastor (also known as elder, bishop, and presbyter) in a
congregation is to be able to proclaim both Law and Gospel
without mingling or confusing either, 6 and to teach the people
so that they no longer will “be children, tossed here and there
by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the
trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” They are
to teach the people so they will “grow up in all aspects into Him,
who is the head, even Christ.”
The young pastor Timothy is told, “Do your best to present
yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need
to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy
2:15; NASB). A “Bishop” (remember, this is another name for
a pastor) is one who is “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:20). Paul
admonishes Timothy to “retain the standard of sound words
which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in
Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13; NASB). He is called to “preach
the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). And when Jesus sends his disciples
out into the world, they are to disciple all people by baptizing
and “teaching them” (Matthew 28:19-20).
1 William Smith and John Lockwood, Chambers Murray Latin-English Dictionary (Edinburg: Chambers; London: John Murray, 1976), 511.
2 Ibid, 754.
3 This is difficult to translate into modern English, so most English versions leave out the definite article from the text.
4 The Augsburg Confession, XIV in The Book of Concord, trans & ed. by Theodore G. Tappert. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 36.
5 John G. Strelan, Ephesians in the ChiRho Commentary Series (Adelaide, South Australia: Lutheran Publishing House, 1981), 55.
Words in bold are Strenlan’s emphasis.
6 One Nineteenth Century Lutheran Pastor-Theologian and educator of future pastors says the following concerning the importance of properly distinguishing
Law and Gospel: “Rightly distinguishing the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult and the highest art of Christians in general and of theologians in particular.
It is taught only by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience.” [C.F.W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1929), 42.]
Continued on page 7

The Necessity of Educating Pastor-Theologians, continued from page 6
In our day and age, teaching is no longer seen as something of
utmost importance for a pastor. Feelings and experience are
much more important. I guess this goes along with an age that no
longer believes God has spoken to us propositional 7 truth, since
it is believed by many that words cannot carry truth because
truth is experiential and dependent upon each individual person.
In other words, what may be true for me may not be true for you,
or vise-versa. James Sire notes, “The basic postmodern attitude
toward belief is that a belief that fits a person is fine for that
person. No story is more privileged than another.” 8 Thus, for
many, the Scriptures may point to truth, but they cannot express
this truth in words. So, for many pastors who have been taken
in by this way of thinking, the idea of being a theologian who
actually teaches truth is not taken very seriously.
We take truth seriously at the Institute of Lutheran Theology.
Thus, we take the revelation of God in Scripture seriously. The
late Philosopher-Theologian Francis Schaeffer noted that, since
God is a personal God, and since he is the one who has created
man in his image,
“…there is nothing that would make it nonsense to consider
that He would communicate to man in verbalized form. Why
should He not communicate to man in verbalized form when
He has made man a verbalizing being in his thoughts as well
as in communication with other men?” 9
Schaeffer continues,
“Why should God not communicate propositionally to the
man, the verbalizing being, whom He has made in such a way
that we communicate propositionally to each other?” 10
In reality, there is no relationship with anyone without some
kind of communication between the parties. As author Gene
Vieth says,
“Merely basking in each other’s presence is not enough.
Merely feeling strongly or having strong affection for the
other person is not enough. A couple has to talk with each
other, not one or the other, but both partners have to talk or the
relationship will die.” 11
In our case, if God does not communicate himself to us, we will
never actually truly live, but remain dead in our “trespasses and
sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Thus, God reveals and communicates
himself to us by Word. He does this first in Jesus, the Word
made flesh. The Gospel of John states, “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
(John 1:1; NASB). John goes on to say, “The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we have beheld his glory, glory
as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”
(John 1:14; NASB). According to John, this Word actually
reveals or unveils God to us. “No man has seen God at any time;
the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has
explained Him” (John 1:18; NASB). 12
This Word made flesh comes to us in the Gospel and this
Gospel is the proclaimed Word concerning Christ. Thus, Paul
writes, “So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word
concerning Christ” (Romans 10:17; NASB, alternate reading).
However, we must get the proclaimed Word from someplace
and this comes to us through the prophets and the apostles. 13
Thus, ultimately, the Living Word Jesus, who comes to us in the
proclaimed Word, must come to us from the written Word of
Holy Scripture. Luther himself would say:
“The Holy Scripture is the Word of God, written and (as I
might say) lettered and formed in letters, just as Christ is
the eternal Word of God cloaked in human flesh. And just as
Christ was embraced and handled by the world (in der Welt
gehalten und gehandelt), so is the written Word of God too.” 14
Like Luther, we at the Institute of Lutheran Theology take
seriously the importance of the Word—the Word made flesh and
the proclaimed Word, which are both derived from the written
Word. Thus, we must take Theology seriously since theology
truly is “sermo vel ratio de Deo, a word or rational discourse
concerning God.” 15 It is here we see the importance of the
pastor being a theologian—one who speaks concerning God and
divine things.
Thus, we see the ministry as much more than a “helping
profession.” It is more than leadership that helps make the
congregation run efficiently. The ministry is the “ministry
of the Word.” When the Apostles discovered they had far too
many pressing duties on their plate, they told the Jerusalem
congregation to “select from among you, brethren, seven
men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom,
whom we may put in charge of this task” (Acts 6:3; NASB).
7 “It is a property of propositions that they have truth values.” [ P. H. Matthews, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997), 300.] Thus, a proposition states something that is ether true or false.
8 James W. Sire, “On Being a Fool for Christ and an Idiot for Nobody: Logocentricity and Postmodernity,” in Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World, ed.
by Timothy R. Phillips & Dennis L. Okholm. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 120.
9 Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There: Speaking Historic Christianity into the Twentieth Century (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1968), 92.
10 Ibid.
11 Gene Edward Veith, Why God’s Word Is All We Need (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2000), 10-11.
12 The apocryphal writer Sirach asks the following question about God: “Who has seen him and can describe him? Or who can extol him as he is?" (Sirach 43:31;
NRSV). John 1:18 answers this question by stating it is Jesus, the Word made flesh, who has fully done this for us.
13 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:19-20; ESV).
14 Quoted in E. F. Klug, From Luther to Chemnitz: On Scripture and the Word (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 29.
15 Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), 298.
Continued on page 8
7

8
The Necessity of Educating Pastor-Theologians, continued from page 7
Why did they do this? Because the Apostles declared, “we must
devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts
6:4). 16
Now, words imply a message, and that message is Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Words put into a sentence make propositions.
These words and the sentences they make mean something.
They convey something. Without words, our knowledge of God
would be totally insufficient.
For instance, we would know little of who God truly is—and we
would know nothing of what God has done for us in Christ—if
it were not for the propositional word we find in the Scriptures.
True, God does have his Book of Creation, where we see
evidence of God in the things he has made. If we did not have
the Scriptures, the heavens would still tell us “of the glory of
God” and “their expanse” would still declare to us “the work
of His hands” (Psalm 19:1; NASB). We would still see God’s
“invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature…
through what has been made” (Romans 1:20; NASB). However,
this kind of knowledge is very incomplete. Without the words of
Scripture, we would not know God as the Heavenly Father who
has rescued us in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. This Word
made flesh comes to us through the proclaimed Word, and this
proclaimed Word we get from the words of Holy Scripture. The
fact is this preaching of Christ and his salvation must ultimately
come from Holy Scripture if it is to be a saving word. Feelings
do not cut it here. Experience can lead astray. Visions can
deceive. We learn only of Jesus and what he has done for us and
for our salvation through the propositional words of Scripture.
Thus, one theologian writes: “While the Christian faith centers
in a Person, we are also fundamentally people of a text.” 17 In
other words, the proclaimed Word must have Holy Scripture
as its source. Anything short of this is what Luther would call
“enthusiasm,” a fanaticism that separates the Holy Spirit’s work
from the “external Word.” Listen to Luther:
“In short, enthusiasm clings to Adam and his descendants from
the beginning to the end of the world. It is a poison implanted
and inoculated in man by the old dragon, and it is the source,
strength, and power of all heresy…Accordingly, we should
and must constantly maintain that God will not deal with us
except through his external Word and sacrament. Whatever is
attributed to the Spirit apart from such Word and sacrament is
of the devil.” 18
Any word delivered by the pastor must ultimately be obtained
not by experience, not be feeling, not by dreams, not even by
philosophical speculations, but rather from God himself in Holy
Scripture, if it is to be a word that builds up believers, a word that
does not lead astray. In reality, a pastor who is not a theologian
(in the sense of one who digs deep into the words of God in Holy
Scripture in order to find the Word made flesh) is no longer in
the “helping profession,” but rather is an “enthusiast” who has
become a danger to the congregation.
Thus, we at the Institute of Lutheran Theology take seriously
the words of God that come to us in Holy Scripture. These
words deliver God to us as he has revealed himself in the Word
Jesus Christ. From Holy Scripture we receive the glorious word
of forgiveness given to us in Christ. For instance, look at how
Scripture describes both its main message concerning Christ
and its power to bring us to faith in this Christ: “And that from
childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to
give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15; NASB). It is from these
sacred writings that the pastor is able to declare an external
forgiving word of Jesus. Certainly, the pastor does not always
have to express this message in the exact same wording as Holy
Scripture, but the message must line up with and be in agreement
with Holy Scripture.
In reality, all people are theologians in one sense, since all
people do some kind of thinking about God and divine things.
Even atheists are theologians, since they think and speak about
how God must not exist. Since all people are theologians, this
means that pastors are also theologians whether they realize it or
not. Thus, the question is: What kind of theologian is the pastor?
The Institute of Lutheran Theology exists to educate pastors who
understand the Word made flesh as he is found in the written Word,
the only norm for our faith and life. 19 The Institute of Lutheran
Theology exists to educate pastors and other church workers to
use the tools of research so they may dig deep into the Holy
Scriptures and think through what these Scriptures say so they
might have a sure word of God to speak to their congregations.
The Institute of Lutheran Theology exists also to educate pastors
and others to see the importance of those in the church who
have gone before us, and to discover how they interpreted this
word. In particular, we are concerned that our students are taught
to develop a deep understanding of the evangelical doctrine
of the Gospel as we find it in the Lutheran Confessions. 20
16 Here are the two sides of worship. First, the sacramental side (the Word), and second, the sacrificial side (Prayer). Or, as Luther said in his sermon at the dedication
of Castle Church in Torgau in 1544: “[T]he purpose of this new house may be such that nothing else may ever happen in it except that our dear Lord himself may
speak to us through his holy Word and we respond to him through prayer and praise.” [Martin Luther, “Sermon at the Dedication of Castle Church, Torgau 1533,”
in Sermons I, Volume 51 in Luther’s Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 333.]
17 J.A.O. Preus III, “Sources of Lutheran Dogmatics: Addressing Contemporary Issues with the Historic Christian Faith,” in A Confessing Theology for Postmodern
Times. Edited by Michael S. Horton (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2000), 36.
18 Martin Luther, Smalcald Articles Part 3, Article 8, Paragraphs 9-10 in The Book of Concord, trans. & ed. by Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1959), 313. Italics added for emphasis.
19 The Lutheran Formula of Concord declares: “We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testament are the only
rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged.” [Epitome, Part 1, Paragraph 1 in The Book of Concord, trans.
& ed. by Theodore G. Tappert. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 464.]
20 While the Scriptures are the only “Norm” and “Source” from which we get our teaching, we at the Institute of Lutheran Theology believe that the Lutheran
Confessions give us the Scriptural teaching as it comes from Holy Scripture.
Continued on page 14

In every generation the Lord calls forth
churchmen of extraordinary insight,
wise understanding and theological
discernment. The Rev. Dr. George H.
Muedeking is one such churchman.
Each Sunday I am blessed by his
worshipful presence in our sanctuary…
and his marvelous singing voice. On a
few Mondays, I am blessed again by an
e-mail from this delightful brother with
a profound thought or two about the
previous day’s sermon. Many of you will recall George’s service
to the Church Militant as editor of FOCL-POINT; editor of
the Lutheran Standard, the official publication of the American
Lutheran Church; and professor of Functional Theology at
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. His editorial pieces for
the Lutheran Standard were always filled with solid food for
the hungry soul…never did his column settle for milk. In every
place of service, George has sought to proclaim the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, build up the Body and glorify our Father in
heaven. It is my honor to know and love George as an elder in
the faith and my brother in Christ. At ninety-six years of age,
George has a wealth of life experience as a churchman and fully
devoted follower of Jesus. I have every confidence that you will
be blessed by his contributions to this magazine.
– Dr. Bruce Wilder, Senior Pastor, Faith Lutheran Church,
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Glad God
By Rev. Dr. George H. Muedeking
During Thanksgiving week I was thinking about thanking.
Among His blessings was surely that of a faithful church.
Replacement theologians were budding, taking the place of my
withering ninth- decade companions.
How merciful of our Lord—and just in time. A brazen,
defecting, and Bible-ignoring Lutheran institutionalism was
clearly ascendant amongst us. The under-shepherds had fled the
secularist encircling wolves, abandoning their flocks to clichés
of doctrinal inclusivity, and replacing evangelism with social
activism.
Yet a surprisingly, large band of Lutheran loyalists were
emerging, demonstrating that truth would not be shoved from
the throne. God had not really forsaken His people.
Evidently we do not have to grovel before an Unjust Judge,
incessantly pleading that He return to His Church. This
Judge, this Leader, this Head of His Body does not wait to be
cajoled. How divinely guided then was I that week: I happened
upon Psalm 13:5 as I did my daily Bible reading in Luther’s
German Bible.
Instead of the too-familiar English rendition, “my heart rejoices
in your salvation,” Luther’s daring words were: mein Herz freut
sich, daß du so gerne hilfst. Yes, yes! A God who “so gerne,”
so gladly, so happily, so eagerly helps! That is the God in full
charge of the His people’s future. He will ever supply us with
faithful, loyal under-shepherds. Thanks be to God.
From Christmas to the Cross
Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus, who, though He
was in the form of God, did
not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but made
Himself nothing, taking the
form of a servant, being born
in the likeness of men. And
being found in human form,
He humbled Himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross
(Philippians 2:5-8, ESV).
Have you enjoyed your Christmas? Did you enjoy the presents,
the parties, the songs and the food? I know I did. But in the
midst of my enjoyment of the season, I can’t help but feel a
little troubled about it all. Now, I’m not really bothered by the
secularization of Christmas, nor its commercialization. In our
By Pr. David R. Patterson
Director of Information Services and ILT Productions
fallen world, this is just to be expected. Rather, I am troubled
by how whole-heartedly we, as the Body of Christ, embrace the
frivolity and the joy of the season, and then try to find a way to
make it Christian. We look up with the shepherds at the angels
and proclaim with them, “Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14).
We wish to lift the Christ child from the manger and hold Him
in our arms and express our love and joy at His glorious coming.
Now there’s nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but I can’t
help but feel that in our quest to make our celebrations Christian
we are trying to grasp the glory of God and perhaps, if for just a
short time, share in that glory.
But we read in Paul’s letter to the Philippians that “God, did
not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians
2:6). This word “grasped” is the one that really troubles me.
You see, the word we translate here as “grasped” is harpagmos
which literally means “a thing seized or to be seized, booty, to
deem anything a prize.” How many of us if we are honest with
'
Continued on 10
9

10
It seems like preaching on holidays
should be simple. It’s the holy days! It’s
the time for the church to proclaim the
core of God’s Word. Jesus has come. He
died for our sins. He rose to give us life
now and in eternity. What could be easier
than preaching on the major holidays?
Actually, as any pastor knows the holidays
can be quite difficult for preaching. To
begin with, pastors tend to be physically
exhausted after all the preparations, the
Christmas programs, perhaps the extra
services. There is also the challenge of
meeting people’s expectations. Once I put together a creative
Christmas Eve Service that I called “reverse tenebrae.” Instead
of putting out candles through the service, I had people bring
candles from home, which they lit as they read one of the
prophecies from Scripture of our Lord’s coming. We ended up
surrounded with the Light of the World. Well, many enjoyed the
service, but some who came complained that they just wanted
the simple liturgy. “Why do they have to keep changing things?”
On top of all these challenges is the desire to say something
new and fresh about the well-known account. As a friend of
mine says, “Everyone has a good Christmas sermon; but only
one sermon.” (I’m not sure if this is a challenge for the people or
just an internal problem for the pastor.)
In any case, how do you preach on holidays?
One way I handled the problem during Lent was to write the
Easter Sermon before Ash Wednesday. It worked really well that
year, but I’m too much of a procrastinator to do that regularly!
Maybe a person could at least outline the sermon for the
From Christmas to the Cross, continued from page 9
ourselves are trying to seize God as our own. He is my God.
When we look at the one true God, incarnate and lying in the
manger, we see God in a manageable, cute, and cuddly package,
one that we can take as our very own. We can do that, but it
won’t help us. The baby in the manger cannot save us. The baby
in the manger is helpless to save us. No, we must wait thirtythree
years for Jesus to grow up. It is not the baby in the manger
who can save us. It is just the route He took to get here. God the
Son “made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Here is where we
are to find our savior. Not cute and cuddly in the manger, but
battered and torn on the cross. This is where the glory of God is
revealed to us. Not in the baby in the manger or in the choir of
angels or in the adoration of the Magi, but in His suffering and
death for us on the cross.
Holiday Preaching
By Rev. Tim J. Rynearson
Faculty Member
culminating service of the season before the season starts.
Another way is to preach on the variety of texts that are
appointed for the day. For example, at Christmas there are
several worship services that could be held. We don’t do them
all here so I sometimes use another one of the services for the
chief service. I also have looked back at old hymnals to see what
was chosen in past years to get ideas for other texts. I still always
use the Christmas Gospel (and frequently from the King James
Version), so I make sure we have continuity, but other texts can
amplify the wonder that is Christmas.
My favorite way to preach the holiday is from different points
of view. “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them
in her heart” (Luke 2:20). As Mary pondered what she had just
experienced, so I like to ponder what it was like for the people
in the inn, the shepherds, the angels, the people in the town,
Joseph, Mary, or even God the Father. Certainly, this involves
some speculation, and I need to come back to the facts of the
Biblical account, but spending some time thinking about how
others dealt with the birth of our Savior helps me to come up
with a fresh approach to the timeless story.
Finally, it comes down to making sure that I understand - as
well as my congregation - the reason for the season. Often, that
phrase is used to talk about Jesus. I use it in a different way. The
reason for the season is my sin, the sin of my congregation, and
the sin of the world. If it weren’t for our sin, Jesus would not
have had to become one of us and suffer and die in our place. It
always comes back to Law and Gospel.
Difficult preaching on holidays? Sure, but not nearly as hard as
what our Lord went through on those holidays!
No, don’t feel bad about enjoying your Christmas holiday. It is
okay to celebrate, to give gifts, to party and sing. But remember
this isn’t IT. Our faith is not based simply on the fact that God
came to us and was laid in the manger. Our faith is based upon
the man who suffered and died on the cross for our sins, who
was raised by the Father on the third day, forever conquering
the power of sin and death. This is not God in a cute and cuddly
package that we can take for our very own. This faith in the
man who is God dying on the cross cannot be grasped or seized
by us. This faith must be given to us by the Father. Therefore
God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that
is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11, ESV).

Being the Associate Director of DTC
Relations is a good fit as equipping the
saints is extremely important to me. The
person in the pew - that’s you and me -
need to have knowledge to build up our
faith and ILT’s Word at Work is specifically
for that purpose. I want to share some
thoughts with you that my dear friend, Dr.
James Kallas, wrote a few years ago for the
FOCL newsletter. Jim is now retired after
serving thirteen years as New Testament
professor at Cal Lutheran, Thousand Oaks,
and was the former President of Dana
College, Nebraska, and has just finished
writing another book, Biblical Chaos, Holding Opposites
Together in Tension.
He wrote:
“Luther said the three ingredients of faith are notia, assensus,
and fudicia. That initial step was notia, knowledge. Faith does
not begin with emotion. Faith does not depend upon how we
feel. Faith begins with education, awareness, knowledge,
an emphasis not on how we feel, but on what Jesus did.
Thus it was that the university system, the jewel of western
civilization, came into being. It was not a product of the state;
it was the fruit of the church. Bologna, the oldest university in
Italy, was founded by the church. Oxford and Cambridge were
products for the church and the deans of the university were
the dons of the cathedral. Harvard began when a Presbyterian
pastor took a few boys into his home and began to train them
to be evangelists for Jesus. On the seal of Dartmouth are the
Necessary Ingredients!
By Constance J. Sorenson
Director of Congregational Services
words of John the Baptist, ‘a voice crying in the wilderness;’
and the word of Jesus was to be made known to the Indians
of the area.
“From the beginning, this majestic crown of the Christian
world was a product of the church. Centers of education were
outposts of evangelism. Dedicated believers in Jesus took the
most far reaching, the most all-encompassing and the vastest
thing they could grasp, the universe, and they founded the
university. In addition theology was the queen of the sciences.
Jesus was the center and goal of that educational adventure.
Faith began with knowledge. Christianity permeated the
curriculum. It was not a fringe, not a department. The Gospel
was not taught as if it were just another topic in a box along
with other topics. It was itself the box! Professors were not
called to be deluded by the inane assertion that truth was like a
race horse, all you had to do was put competitive ideas on the
track and the best would automatically win. You had to fight
for what you believed in. The very name they gave the faculty,
the head, was “professor!” One who professed, believed, was
permeated by the truth of Jesus and that allegiance which
soaked his soul would shine out in all that he said. His job
was not to pat other points of view in tolerant approval, but
to maintain the primacy, the exclusivity, the metaphysical and
life-changing truth found in Christ Jesus alone.”
These passionate words about our early universities and schools
of theology and their roots are vitally important to us. Education
is the beginning of faith, and we at ILT are committed to bring
that to the people in your churches. The people must know
before they can assent and say, “This I believe is true” and then
live their lives in total trust in Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
"Christ has two witnesses of his birth and kingdom; the one is the
Scripture, the written Word; the other is the voice or the word preached
orally. The same word Paul calls in 2 Cor. 4: 6, and Peter in
2 Pet. 1:19, a light and lamp."
-- Martin Luther, "The Story of This Gospel and Its Spiritual Interpretation,"
The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther,
Vol. 1.1-2. Edited by John Nicholas Lenker. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000, p. 371.
11

12
The Ruins of Christendom
An Institute of Lutheran Theology
Conference was held October 22-24,
2012.
Nearly fifty people gathered at the Old
Sanctuary in Brookings, South Dakota
for this important discussion on life
in the twenty-first century, wherein
Christianity does not enjoy the respect
of or the establishment within our
culture as it did in the opening decades
of the twentieth century. Embedded
in a post-modern culture, this post-
Christendom era shares several of its
features: 1) a retreat into the self as a measure of all things, 2)
a retreat away from objective truth, and 3) a retreat from the
objective reality of God as a being distinct and separate from
the self. Three pairs of presentations and responses stimulated
much discussion from the gathered participants. The first pair—
Dr. Jonathon Sorum and Dr. Jack Kilcrease—tackled the first
issue of the self-retreating into the self. Here, law and gospel
preaching break through this “in curvatus in se” (being curved
in upon one’s self). Dr. Sorum used the writings of Phillip Reif
and his concept of vias (a culture's way of being in the world at a
By Rev. Timothy J. Swenson
Director of Student Services
Fall Theological Conference in Brookings SD
Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt giving a
lecture at the Conference
particular stage of its development) to lay this out for the crowd.
The second pair—Dr. Mark Hilmer and Dr. Dan Lioy—looked
at how the Word of God establishes Jesus Christ as the way,
the truth, and the life. Dr. Hilmer surveyed the bible, drawing
out Christ as the Word of God present throughout the scope
of scripture. The third and last pair—Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt
and Dr. George Tsakiridis—dealt with scripture’s revelation
of the one true God as an objective reality who engages in
theophysical causality. Dr. Bielfeldt drew on the theological
and philosophical tradition, demonstrating the historical nature
of having a God who creates and then acts to establish things
within that creation. Much discussion ensued; the gathered
crowd participated nearly as much as the paired presenters.
The conference concluded with a panel discussion about how
the presentations could be applied to preaching in the parish.
At the end, the participants were gratified, knowing they’d
contributed to an important conversation for addressing these
post-Christendom times. The conference proceedings will be
published as a journal and in DVD video format. Watch the
Institute’s website for announcements this winter.
Dr. Jack Kilcrease &
Dr. Jonathan Sorum
fielding questions
Informal discussion between lectures

The Gift at Christmas: Christ and the Gospel in
Luther’s Church Postils
Now it is evident that the Gospel teaches
nothing but the foregoing two things,
Christ and his example and two kinds
of good works, the one belonging to
Christ by which we are saved through
faith, the other belonging to us by which
our neighbor receives help. Whosoever
therefore teaches anything different from
the Gospel leads people astray; and
whosoever does not teach the Gospel in
these two parts leads people all the more
astray and is worse than the former who
teaches without the Gospel, because
he abuses and corrupts God's Word.
–Martin Luther, Church Postil for Christmas Day, Luke 2:1-14
“For unto you this day is born a Savior” has to be just about the
most wonderful words in the world with the possible exception
of “Christ is risen!” and “I love you.” Christmas is for many
people the best day of the year, even more popular than Easter.
Rather than get theologically correct and tell people Christmas
would not be a big deal without Easter’s “Christ is risen” let us
take the time to make an evangelical point people can remember
this year, and that is “For unto you.” Let me explain.
In 1521 Martin Luther received an assignment from Frederick
the Elector to write a collection of sermons on the Sundays of
the church year, especially the Easter Sundays. The necessity
was that many of the pastors of the new evangelische church
had never written a sermon and didn’t know how. In the past
they were content to read the Epistle and Gospel and a sermon
by someone like John Tauler. Many of those sermons were
admirable but at times not evangelical. It was hoped Luther
would provide good examples of what an evangelical sermon
should be.
This was a significant year for evangelical history. Luther began
these sermons after he had received a death warrant from the
Pope and in another year he would come under the double ban
with the Emperor’s condemnation. However, after that Luther
would be whisked away to Wartburg where he would add some
more sermons to the Postils while he was translating the New
Testament into German.
In a way the Church Postils was a Christmas gift from the
Elector to Christian posterity. Luther began the series with
Advent and wrote some wonderful sermons where he laid out
his understanding of the Gospel in most simple terms. Have
you ever wondered if your sermons or the sermons you are
hearing are true to Luther’s ideal? Just go to Google and read
some of Luther’s Postils, then decide. One thing I noticed right
away is that Luther thought the Gospel was a very specific thing
By Rev. Eric J. Swensson
Director of International Partners and Marketing
concerning the gift Christ is for each of us and how each of us is
to go out and be a gift to our neighbor.
There is a sermon for each Sunday in the season of Advent
and six sermons for the various services connected with the
observance of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well as the
special days that follow. I commend them to you to read for
devotion at your leisure. Below find some excerpts to whet your
appetite.
The text for the 1st Sunday in Advent was Matthew 21:1-9. In
reference to Zechariah, Luther says the Church (“O Daughter
Zion”) received a twofold gift from Christ. The first is faith and
the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer’s heart and the second
gift being Christ himself. We hear echoes of the spirituality
found in his famous treatise “On Christian Liberty” which was
written at the same time. Luther tells us that because of the gift
of Christ himself, the Church “may glory in the blessings given
by Christ, as though everything Christ is and has were her own.
This is getting close to what we can share with others as the
“real meaning of Christmas.”
In his first sermon on Christmas Day (Titus 2:11-15) we have
another tip on what we can tell people why Christmas is such
a wonderful thing, “The people are to be taught who Christ is,
why he came and what blessings his coming brought us… Christ
did not come to dwell on earth for his own advantage, but for our
good. Therefore he did not retain his goodness and grace within
himself. After his ascension he caused this to be proclaimed in
public preaching throughout the world.”
In the next Postil (Luke 2:1-14) Luther continues to stress what
makes the Gospel good news, explaining again that it contains
the gift of faith and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that we
might truly believe and that it is necessary that we understand
that Christ is a gift. The example of Christ giving Himself for us
is a gift and our being a gift by following the example of Christ
is part of the Gospel. All of this is to be understood clearly first
before the subject of good works is addressed.
This is the principal thing and the principal treasure in every
Gospel, before any doctrine of good works can be taken out
of it. Christ must above all things become our own and we
become his, before we can do good works. But this cannot
occur except through the faith that teaches us rightly to
understand the Gospel and properly to lay hold of it. This is
the only way in which Christ can be rightly known so that
the conscience is satisfied and made to rejoice. Out of this
grow love and praise to God who in Christ has bestowed upon
us such unspeakable gifts. This gives courage to do or leave
undone, and living or dying, to suffer everything that is well
Continued on page 14
13

14
The Necessity of Educating Pastor-Theologians, continued from page 8
Even more, the Institute of Lutheran Theology exists to educate
pastors and others so they may understand the importance of
the Gospel Word and how it relates to the everyday pastoral
ministry.
“Crux sola est nostra Theologia.” This is how Martin Luther
described the kind of theology taught and promoted by him and
the other Reformers at Wittenberg. It is translated as, “The cross
alone is our theology.” 21 Ultimately, what we at the Institute of
Lutheran Theology seek to do is to educate pastors and other
church workers so they may understand not only the importance
of theology in general, but the theology of the cross in particular.
This theology of the cross is of utmost importance in their
preaching, teaching, counseling, equipping, leadership, and all
other aspects of ministry. Current pastors and those who are
studying for the pastoral ministry must ultimately understand
what Paul means when he writes, “For I determined to know
nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified”
(1 Corinthians 2:20; NASB).
Martin Luther wrote that “true theology and recognition of God
are in the crucified Christ.” 22 In reality, only in Christ can we
become true theologians, and only in Christ and him crucified
do we have a sure word of God’s love and forgiveness that
the world so desperately needs. This word comes to us in the
The Gift at Christmas: Christ and the Gospel in Luther’s Church Postils, continued from page 13
pleasing to God. This is what is meant by Isaiah 9:6, “Unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” to us, to us, to us is
born, and to us is given this child. Therefore see to it that you
do not find pleasure in the Gospel only as a history, for that is
only transient; neither regard it only as an example, for it is of
no value without faith; but see to it that you make this birth
your own and that Christ be born in you.
So here is what I find to be the principle point and one that
people can easily remember: the same way that Luther taught
what is so essential for us to lay hold of concerning the meaning
of Holy Communion, that each individual must believe it is
also for him or her, this is how we are to understand the Gift at
Christmas: “He does not simply say, Christ is born, but to you
he is born, neither does he say, I bring glad tidings, but to you I
bring glad tidings of great joy.”
Christ is born “for you.” This is the meaning of Christmas. Share
it as the shepherds did.
We might also want to meditate on the following words from the
proclaimed Word, which is ultimately grounded in the written
Word of Holy Scripture.
A Pastor-Theologian is ultimately one who has met the Word
made flesh in this preached Word, which has its source in the
written Word. It is this Word that is “inspired by God and
profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16; NASB). It is this
Word that delivers to us Jesus Christ and him crucified. Only
a Pastor-Theologian such as this can truly deliver the one hope
for the church and for the world. The Institute of Lutheran
Theology exists for this purpose. In order to do this we must
educate pastors who are also theologians. In particular, they
must be theologians of the cross. Will you help us accomplish
this task by your prayers for us, by your financial support to
us, and by sending us those whom you believe God has called
into the ministry of the Word? Will you partner with us so we
may prepare Pastor-Theologians who can proclaim the Word
made flesh as he is revealed to us in the written Word? In this
way the light of the Good News may continue to shine brightly
in the pulpits, classrooms, and other pastoral functions in
congregations in North America and around the world.
21 John Nicholas Lenker, Luther’s Commentary on the First Twenty-Two Psalms, Vol. 1 (Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Lutherans in All Lands Co., 1903), 289.
22 Martin Luther, “Heidelberg Disputation” in Career of the Reformer: I, Volume 31 in Luther’s Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1957), 52.
Postil on Luke 2:1-14, and perhaps share it with those we gather
with at Christmas. They are wise words on why it is we can
come before the manger in true awe. We leave you to take this
Good News into your heart deeply and tuck it away as it were,
away in the manger of your heart, tucked away in safety to bring
out and share at the right time:
This Gospel is so clear that it requires very little explanation,
but it should be well considered and taken deeply to heart; and
no one will receive more benefit from it than those who, with a
calm, quiet heart, banish everything else from their mind, and
diligently look into it. It is just as the sun which is reflected in
calm water and gives out vigorous warmth, but which cannot be
so readily seen nor can it give out such warmth in water that is in
roaring and rapid motion. Therefore, if you would be enlightened
and warmed, if you would see the wonders of divine grace and
have your heart aglow and enlightened, devout and joyful, go
where you can silently meditate and lay hold of this picture deep
in your heart, and you will see miracle upon miracle.

I have been with the Institute
of Lutheran Theology since the
beginning and although my title has
changed many times, the goal has
always been the same. Getting the
word out about the Institute! You see,
I believe in what God is doing with
ILT through the staff, educators,
congregations and people like you
who support the Institute through
prayer and financial contributions.
In 2005, I was working part-time
for the WordAlone (WA) Network. At the annual convention,
President Jaynan Clark asked Pr. Randy Freund and Dr. Dennis
Bielfeldt, then WA Board members, to draft a resolution for a
possible WA House of Studies. It was proposed to and passed by
the convention that a task force be appointed by the Board to work
Since the Beginning
By Marsha L. Schmit
Director of Communications
on creating a plan for this Lutheran House of Studies. The task
force introduced their proposal at the 2006 annual convention,
and it was adopted. Many questions such as where this HoS would
be located, whether or not it would be accredited, etc. needed
answering but then the work began within the WA Network. Pr.
Freund and Dr. Bielfeldt began their part-time work as WA staff
for what is now the Institute of Lutheran Theology. They were
joined by Nikki Berreth who was hired to be the administrator,
and Pr. Freund and I contacted congregations encouraging them
to become Designated Teaching Centers (DTC’s). I also started
collecting names, addresses and emails and putting together the
Word at Work newsletter. The part-time staff grew and so did the
Institute. We currently have twelve staff members and countless
others working to help ILT grow. The Institute of Lutheran
Theology - a small beginning, significant changes, your prayers
and contributions, and unbelievable growth.
God is good!
Four Additional Means to Support ILT
in 2013 that Benefit You as Well
1. How can life insurance be used to benefit ILT?
Making a charitable bequest (giving assets to ILT) is the simplest
way to make a planned gift. You can specify in your will the amount
or percentage of assets that are to pass to the ILT. Your estate will
receive an estate tax deduction for the bequest. There is no limit on
the amount of the charitable gift made by bequest, or on the amount
that can be deducted for estate tax purposes.
2. I would like to give property to ILT, but continue to live
in it during my lifetime. Is that possible?
Yes. You can deed your home, farm or your recreational home to
ILT now, reserving the right to live there for the rest of your life. You
would have the comfort of knowing that some day ILT will benefit
from the value of your property without having to wait for a probate
proceeding. You also would receive an income tax deduction the
next time you file your taxes. During your life, you would continue
to enjoy use of the property or rental income (if you choose to rent
it out). You would continue to pay for the costs of maintenance,
insurance and property taxes. At the time of your death, the property
would be sold for the benefit of the ILT’s Endowment Fund.
Our Endowment Fund is located at the Lutheran Community
Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Foundation can give
you more information on how this type of gift might work for you.
You can reach the Foundation at 1-800-365-4172.
3. Can I receive a charitable tax deduction for giving
gifts of securities?
Yes. In fact, if your gift of stock or bonds has appreciated since you
first bought it, and you have held those securities for more than one
year, you can make a gift at a significant discount to you.
For example, assume that you paid $3,000 for stock in Acme
Company six years ago, and that stock is now worth $8,000. If you
sell the stock for $8,000, you would net about $7,000, if you are in
a 20% capital gains tax bracket. If you then gave that money to the
ILT’s Endowment Fund, you would receive an income tax deduction
of $7,000.
4. How can we support ILT and supplement income with
a gift annuity?
Some benefits of a charitable gift annuity:
There are several reasons for choosing a charitable gift annuity:
• Your charitable gift annuity can be established with $10,000 or
more with a gift of cash, publicly traded securities or mutual
funds.
• You receive ongoing quarterly payments that remain constant for
your lifetime, regardless of shifts in the economy.
• Beneficiaries can be one or two people, even relatives or friends.
The ongoing payment amount depends on the gift size, the age of
the payment.
Please call us for information on how we can help you with any of
these. We have an Endowment Fund staffed with professionals in
their field to help as well.
15

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