Think of it this way: Sinners in yourself. Saint in Christ. This is the only freedom to live in this old, dying world with its partial forgiveness and petty mercies. This freedom allows you to live in a world that either forgets its sins too easily or can't seem to let them go. So you trust God absolutely when you pray: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

PART TWO - CONCERNING THE HOLY PREACHING OFFICE OR THE PASTORAL OFFICE

Thesis I The holy preaching office or pastoral office is an office distinct from the office of priest, which all believers have.

Every Christian for the sake of his salvation is in duty bound to acknowledge and adhere to orthodox congregations and orthodox preachers, wherever he can find such.

To obtain salvation, only fellowship in the invisible Church, to which alone all the glorious promises regarding the Church were originally given, is absolutely necessary.

Thus, St. Peter confessed before the Jerusalem council precisely what Christ had declared to him years before. The only cornerstone that will provide a suitable foundation for the fledgling church is Christ Jesus Himself. Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This confession of faith is the firm rock upon which Christ builds His Church. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. Upon this rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail. Upon this rock, there is true reconciliation between dissenting brothers. Upon the truth of the Word, the church is built and preserved.

Thesis VIII Although God gathers for Himself a holy church of elect at a place where His Word is not taught in its complete purity and the Sacraments are not administered altogether according to the institution of Jesus Christ, if only God’s Word and the Sacraments are not denied entirely but both essentially remain, nevertheless every believer is bound, at the peril of losing his salvation, to flee all false teachers, avoid all heterodox congregations or sects, and confess and adhere to orthodox congregations and their orthodox preachers wherever such may be found.

A. Also in heterodox and heretical churches there are children of God, and also there the true Church is made manifest by the pure Word and the Sacraments that still remain.

B. Every believer for the sake of his salvation must flee all false teachers, and avoid fellowship with heterodox congregations or sects.

C. Every Christian for the sake of his salvation is in duty bound to acknowledge and adhere to orthodox congregations and orthodox preachers, wherever he can find such.

“The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). And what does He want to find in the heart? Not a lover of money, a covetous sinner with a hardened heart. No, God looks for faith. He looks for His Son’s Word. He looks for the Spirit’s work. He looks for what He gives by way of Moses and the Prophets, and especially the promised Messiah to Abraham. And the fear, love, and trust He gives in Christ Jesus for salvation, fulfilling the First Commandment, is the greatest and only wealth that matters in eternity. What matters is not how we appear to men, coram hominibus, or how we look to the world, coram mundo, but only what God sees, coram Deo.

Thesis VII As visible fellowships that still have the Word and the Sacraments essentially according to God’s Word bear the name “church” because of the true invisible Church of genuine believers that is found in them, so also they possess the authority that Christ has given to His whole Church on account of the true invisible Church hidden in them, even if there were only two or three [believers].

Nicodemus has absolutely no idea what Jesus Christ is talking about. And now Jesus is laying out for him what Baptism is, because Baptism is the Holy Spirit blowing on you. And when the Holy Spirit blows on you, the Holy Spirit is going to do with you what He wills. And what will he do? He will give you a promise, not a command. The promise in Baptism provides you with what you otherwise do not know and could not understand—the name of the only Son of God.

When we get together on Sunday, we say things to each other, like: “How do you like the weather today?” But that's not part of the liturgy. So you don't have a hymn that sings: “How is the weather today?” No, the key things being said in the Holy Spirit's communion, communication, are about Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one who communicates these things to you so that you can hear them. And for that reason, we give Jesus the words and we give the Holy Spirit the ear. He's the one who hears and gives you Jesus in words, water, bread and wine.

Thesis IV It is to this true Church of believers and saints that Christ gave the Keys of the kingdom of heaven, and it is the proper and only possessor and bearer of the spiritual, divine, and heavenly gifts, rights, authority, offices, and the like that Christ has procured and are found in His Church.

Thesis V Although the true Church in the proper sense of the word is in its essence invisible, nevertheless its existence can be (definitely) recognizable, namely, by the marks of the pure preaching of God’s Word and the administration of the Sacraments according to Christ’s institution.

The Holy Spirit does not fabricate anything. He will only declare to you what Christ has already said. He will take what is Christ's and give it to you. Like an older brother who takes from his younger brother, the Holy Spirit has come to take what belongs to Jesus so He can give it to you. But of course, this is what Jesus desires and what the Holy Spirit has come to do for you. Everything that the Father says about Jesus, the Holy Spirit applies to you. 

Thesis III The Church in the proper sense of the word is invisible.

Thesis IV It is to this true Church of believers and saints that Christ gave the Keys of the kingdom of heaven, and it is the proper and only possessor and bearer of the spiritual, divine, and heavenly gifts, rights, authority, offices, and the like that Christ has procured and are found in His Church.

Where we have erected idols that we fear, love, and trust, the Spirit brings that devastating conviction, a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces, even grinding our golden gods into powder. Where we have gone astray, the Spirit guides us home. Where we are lost in the dark, the Spirit shines the light of Christ’s Word to enlighten our hearts. As painful as it is to have our every act of rebellion and unbelief exposed, how much better is it to have every sin absolved, washed away, forgiven in the blood of Jesus! And in His forgiveness, you have a way out, a way forward, and a way through life in this tortured world.

We, Christians, are people of the past, too. We look backward via the Scriptures to learn who God is and what He has done. We are also called to honor, serve, and obey our parents, both in life and in death. They would have us never forget the Holy Scriptures, just as Jim holds his Bible to his chest. And in the Holy Word, we learn that God made us and all creatures. As He gave and preserved the people of old, He will care for us. God the Son died for us on the cross of Calvary, shedding His blood and dying our death for the forgiveness of sins. And Jesus promised to send His Spirit to call, gather, enlighten, and make holy for Himself a Christian Church.

“You now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you” (Jn 16:22). So all those who come after the death and resurrection of God's only Son are in the last days. Faith alone holds Christ as right and certain while awaiting the last day. On that day, all that is now held in faith will be revealed. But for now, everything must be marked by the struggle between old and new in this world.

Thesis I The Church in the proper sense of the word is the congregation of saints, that is, the entirety of all those who, called out of the lost and condemned human race by the Holy Spirit through the Word, truly believe in Christ and by faith are sanctified and incorporated in Christ.

Thesis II To the Church in the proper sense of the word belongs no wicked person, no hypocrite, no unregenerate person, no heretic.

Jesus seeks and gathers them all together that there may be one fold under one shepherd. Everyone who wants to be saved must be a part of His flock. The Good Shepherd has given His life for the sheep, and therefore, He is still our shepherd today, “by the blood of the eternal covenant” (Heb 13:20), a covenant of redemption and forgiveness where all are made whole again.

¹ That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, ² the Holy Ghost is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear ³ the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ’s sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake.

And so, in John 20, Jesus stands there, with Thomas' sins on Himself. Then, He speaks so that Thomas isn't left to stare in shock and awe, silently wondering what happens next. Jesus absolves Thomas. Peace to you! (I forgive you!) Put your finger here. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Jesus moves Thomas from uncertainty to certainty, from unfaith to faith. Thomas' sins are not his anymore, as proven by the marks in Jesus' hands, feet, and side.

For Luther, preaching gives both internal and external certainty (givable, possessable, shareable). Certainly only comes when both law and gospel are preached absolutely, not simply to affect the hearers psychologically. These two words are God’s movement from accusation to promise, hiddenness to revelation. God is not the “yet will be” of the law, but the “here I am” of His promised mercy. When God hides, my feeling or experience is uncertainty. When God reveals by preaching absolutely, my feeling or experience is certainty. Certainty comes outside by a preacher, who is the instrument of God’s work/word, and thereby actually elects to salvation. Our certainty is in Christ’s fulfillment of the law, making the law neither agreeable nor without accusation, but completely ends the law, freeing me from sin, death, and the devil. The boldest contradiction and opposites are the sub contrario of the preaching of the cross.