The Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words, are typically divided into two tables (#1-3 and #4-10). The first table is about loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind; the second table is about loving our neighbors as ourselves.

This week we look at the first table which is, as Luther said, about faith. Faith has to do with the future (Heb. 11:1). How do we deal with the onrush of the future? As threat or as opportunity and promise? Everything depends on what our faith is in.

Let me also say a word about a question that came up about prayer to icons/saints. My response in the recording was simply an attempt to help us understand why Roman Catholics “pray” to saints. I think it is always important to understand the reasons why other traditions believe what they believe. That doesn’t mean we necessarily agree, but the Christ-like thing to do is to try to understand others sympathetically rather than judgmentally.

There is only one mediator between God and humans and that is the man Jesus Christ. Robert Jenson says that if speaking to dead saints (or our loved ones who have already passed on) is possible, it would only be through Jesus. The saints are not our way to Jesus, but if communication with the great cloud of witnesses is possible, then Jesus would be our way to them. He is the one mediator.

If you want to read more on the eternity/time question, here is a short post I wrote about it a few years ago: The Timely God.

The books I referenced in the teaching can be found here:

* Robert Jenson, A Large Catechism

* Peter Leithart, The Ten Commandments

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