Scripture: John 15:6 1 Corinthians 13:2 1 Corinthians 12:3, Pages 232 to 242 of the book are discussed. Jesus says: "Apart from Me you can do nothing". Diatribe grabs the word "nothing" and says it means "a little something". Luther argues against this strongly. An enemy of Christ is going to do nothing for Christ. It is hard for Christians to avoid sin, it is impossible for the non-believer to avoid sin. God and the Devil are not distant, truth is that one of them is riding us as a beast of burden. It is not coercion. The Devil says, do whatever you want. God in contrast says you either serve Me or serve the Devil. Good is more rare or more fragile than evil. Listen to this very important doctrinal discussion.

Scripture: John 3:6 Genesis 5:1-2 Romans 6:11 Proverbs 16:1, Page 222 to 233 of the book are covered. We talk about the nature of man regarding original sin. Christ divides all men into two classes, flesh and spirit. Luther makes his case against Erasmus using John 3:6.

Scripture: Genesis 8:21 Genesis 6:5 Psalm 51:5 Psalm 22:9 Isaiah 40:2 Isaiah 40:6, The Bible teaches that all mankind can only do evil. Each cannot do what God wants but only what self wants. Man is ablaze in sin from conception and not tinder ready to be set afire, as the Roman Catholics teach. We can do nothing to turn ourselves to please God. Any work that comes from a sinner is sin. All humans are in need of what God freely gives. This is called grace. Infant baptism is the acid test for God's grace. If you have grace right, you have original sin right. If you have original sin right, you have grace right. Listen to the audio to learn more on these subjects.

Scripture: Genesis 6:3, Pages 206 through 215 of the book are covered today.

This session begins with an overview of pages 164 to 193 of the book. Here Luther interprets biblical texts that deal with free will. In the new material, pages 194 to 198 of the book, we discuss two kinds of necessity. Footnote #37 on page 38 is a good summary of Luther's position: Man's free choice is bound to God's foreknowledge. We also discussed the mutable and imminent God versus the immutable and transcendent God.

Scripture: Ephesians 1:11 Ephesians 1:19 1 Corinthians 12:6, The first 18 minutes of this lecture was NOT recorded due to technical difficulties. The remaining 42 minutes of audio is provided. We pickup at the 18 minute point in mid-sentence. A Word transcript of first 18 minutes of the teaching can be downloaded by clicking on the LINK below, titled: Transcript -- First 18 Minutes .... Thank you for your interest in our teaching.

A question was asked, "why do we as humans want to see God as good?". Is man to defend God? Where does human reason fit into the answers? We review the Revealed God vs. the Hidden God as well as who condemns man to eternal punishment in hell and who saves man from this judgment. This was a very interesting class led by Pastor Rhode on these challenging subjects.