Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
If recent refusals of denominations to finance their seminaries are self- defeating, the tendency of many to neglect youth work is just as silly. It is certainly a factor in the lack of young people at our worship services. I have some idea what is going on as my wife and I have hosted high […]
Several decades ago some writers observed progressives in all denominations are more comfortable with progressives in all other denominations than they are with conservatives in their own. Chances are this situation foreshadows what lies ahead for the American Church. It also captures the sense of the comment Derek made last week. Although our church bodies […]
A Sunday School class in one of my sons-in-laws’ congregations was discussing the relationship of the Roman Catholics and Lutherans. A question arose why there was not more unity after 40 years of theological discussions that concluded agreement on just about all issues. These were topped off with a Joint Declaration on Justification, the very […]
We always hear we need authority in order to keep unity in the Church. Those making the claim usually mean they have the proper theology to which everyone else must conform. However, this kind of authority has done little to heal the divisions in the Body of Christ and, for the most part, has led […]
A good way to review the Gospel of John is to take ten minutes for a read of the First Letter of John. It makes very clear what the evangelist is trying to say. It is clear that he is responding to doctrine he feels is false. However, he is not presenting a list of […]
Matthew and Mark report that the message at the empty tomb sends the disciples back to Galilee where Jesus will meet them. Luke’s version tells them to remain in Jerusalem. At first, John seems to support Luke, seemingly ending his gospel with chapter 20. But then he continues with a Galilean appearance that offers all […]
Any casual reader should be able easily to see the extensive differences between the four gospels’ reports about the empty tomb on Easter, even though we hardly ever hear preachers address them. They disagree about both who was there and what was said. But let’s skip these obvious differences. Too often we focus on them […]
John’s take on the Cross presents a demanding challenge for us all. Mark and Matthew have everyone mock Jesus from beginning to end. Jesus refuses the wine with myrrh designed to lessen his pain. Jesus cries only one thing, “My God why have you forsaken me?” and dies with a loud shout. Luke pictures Jesus […]
John’s Passion primarily involves two long conversations, one at the Last the Supper (14-18) and the second in Pilate’s chambers (18:28-19:16). Together these make up 6 of his 21 chapters. Obviously, they are important. The first begins with Jesus’ proclaiming, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”; the second ends with Pilate asking, […]
It’s easy to see John is talking about meaning rather than events. He moves from the raising of Lazarus to Palm Sunday to Holy Thursday skipping all the events recorded by the other gospels. Then he spends almost a fifth of his book with conversation at the Last Supper. He gives us a clue to […]
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