The Apocrypha, Lesson 8: Tobit, Pt. 1

Introduction Though Tobit includes historical reality in its background setting, it is not history but a religious novel to teach the faithful.  Like Judith, this book contains information known not […]

The Apocrypha, Lesson 7: Judith, Pt. 2

Recap Last week, we learned Judith “put sandals on her feet, and put on her anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and all her other ornaments, and made herself very beautiful, to […]

The Apocrypha, Lesson 6: Judith, Pt. 1

Introduction Judith is work of religious fiction without the pretense of recounting actual history.  The story opens with a fictionalized Nebuchadnezzar making war on an invented King of the Medes, […]

The Apocrypha, Lesson 4: The Greek Portions of Daniel, Pt. 2

Last week, we looked at the Prayer of Azariah and the Hymn of the Three Young Men, which are placed between Daniel 3:23 and 3:24.  Today, we study the story […]

The Apocrypha, Lesson 3: The Greek Portions of Daniel, Pt. 1

The Protestant edition of Daniel is written in Hebrew (1:1-2:3, 8:1-12:13) and Aramaic (2:4-7:28).  The Daniel of the Septuagint is all Greek, with some portions not being a translation but […]

The Apocrypha, Lesson 2: How We Lost the Apocrypha

Last week, we learned what the Scriptures were for Jesus and his Apostles: The Septuagint, the Greek-language version of the Old Testament.  Jesus also affirmed this in His Scripture quotes, […]

The Lutheran Church and Purgatory, Pt. 1

This is our pastor’s newsletter article for the June 2016 issue of our congregational newsletter. Last month, we looked the body’s resurrection and the intermediate state of our souls being […]

1 Maccabees 4:36-51, John 10:22-33

Today, we are following Jesus.  We walk behind Him, and He makes His way to the Temple to celebrate a festival.  For us, it is spring; for Jesus, the season […]

The Books of the Old Testament: The Apocrypha

This article is a supplement to the church bulletin for our Palm Sunday service.  The Old Testament reading is from 2 Maccabees 10:1-7, which gives us a better context for […]

2 Corinthians, Lesson 7: The Resurrection Encourages Us, even in Our Suffering

Paul and Timothy said that what was happening to them, their suffering and being brought closer to death, made them outwardly seem fragile, like jars of clay. People considered such […]