The Festival of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession
Posted on June 25, 2025 by under
Scripture: Galatians 2:16-21 (NKJV)
2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Devotion
True righteousness only comes through Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus is the one who lived according to the Law and kept it perfectly for our sake. As we are made alive in Him, by His grace and Holy Spirit, He continues to do the work of His love through us.
As mentioned yesterday, Satan would have us forget God’s work of love and focus on a twisted, self-serving gospel. We are forgiven and saved from sin only by faith in Christ. But if we ignore the ongoing work of God’s love through us, and rebel against His commandments to walk faithfully, then we return to sin and transgression. We are saved by His free gift of grace and justified through faith. Faith then does the work of love according to God’s good and wise Law. The whole counsel of God’s Word and truth is believed, taught, and confessed when we faithfully remember the Law and the Gospel, observing all that our Lord has commanded.
It is not enough to call oneself ‘Lutheran’. Nor is it enough to pay ‘lip service’ to the Augsburg Confession and the rest of the Book of Concord. If we are to properly celebrate the confession of the Lutheran Reformers, then we must first be faithful to all that our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us in His Word, according to the proper understanding of the Law and the Gospel.
Collect: Almighty God, Who, through the preaching of Thy servants, the blessed Reformers, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine forth: Grant, we beseech Thee, that, knowing its saving power, we may faithfully guard and defend it against all enemies, and joyfully proclaim it, to the salvation of souls and the glory of Thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the First Sunday after Trinity Sunday
O God, the Strength of all them that put their trust in Thee: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without Thee, grant us the help of Thy grace, that in keeping Thy commandments we may please Thee, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
