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The Smalcald Articles – part 9
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Ephesians 4:22-23
Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
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From the Confessions: The Smalcald Articles
Besides such necessary concerns in the church, there are also innumerable improvements needed in the political estate. There are disagreements between the princes and the states. Lending and greed have burst in like a flood, and have become legalized. Wantonness, lewdness, extravagant clothing, gluttony, gambling, conceited display, all kinds of bad habits and wickedness, insubordination of subjects, of domestics and laborers, extortion in every trade and among the peasants have increased so much that they could not be corrected by ten Councils and twenty Diets.
Pulling It Together: The more things change, the more they stay the same. The old adage rings as true today as it seems it did in Luther’s day. His complaints could easily be applied to our own society. Committee meetings will not fix it all (sometimes it seems to make matters worse). City Councils care little for such matters, nor do the highest assemblies in the land. Church conferences will not fix it all. So, let us be content with the Word. A little every day, received by each of us, will go the furthest in correcting what is wrong with both church and culture. The change we desire all around us begins within us.
Prayer: Let it begin with me, Lord. Amen
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Author
Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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