The Eighth Sunday after Trinity

 The Eighth Sunday after Trinity – August 10, 2025

Psalm 48; Jeremiah 23:16-29; Romans 8:12-17

St. Matthew 7:15-23

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.” The Second Commandment consists of two parts: the Name of God and the proper use of His Name. The Name of God of course refers to the many ways He has given to us to address Him: God, Lord, Almighty, Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, etc. His name also refers to every statement that He has made about Himself. Another way we could think of this is pure doctrine. The teachings of the Scriptures are God’s own Words, and they reveal Him to you. As such, everything we belief, teach, and confess is a statement concerning God’s Name, and is governed by the Second Commandment.

The act of believing, teaching, and confessing regards the proper use of His Name and everything that He has revealed about Himself – including His will for the salvation of man and our conduct in accordance with His Word. In the Small Catechism, we state that this commandment means “we should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” To curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, and deceive in God’s name is to confess a false doctrine. The false prophets of whom Christ speaks preach false doctrine in the name of the Lord. In this, they violate the Second Commandment on top of whichever other commandments they violate with the wicked fruits of their actions.

Wolves in sheep’s clothing have plagued the church from the very beginning, when Satan donned the robes of a serpent to tempt Eve.[1] Aaron, appointed high priest by God, led the people of Israel in the false worship of the golden calf.[2] Many kings of both Israel and Judah led the people in the worship idols, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. During Christ’s ministry, the Pharisees and Sadducees claimed to teach the word of God but, in reality, they taught the doctrines of man.[3] St. Paul taught against the Judaizers and St. John against the Gnostics. There were the heretics of the Early Church, teaching such blasphemies as denying the Trinity, that the Son of God was a creation of the Father, or that the Holy Spirit was nothing more than an emanation of power from the Father and not a Person of the Holy Trinity.

During the Middle Ages, prior to the Reformation, there were many false prophets who claimed the Name of God. The Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars (covering the 7^th through 13^th centuries) each preached some form of dualism in which the material world was evil and only the spiritual world was good, denying that the Almighty God was Lord of heaven and earth. Of course, there were the false teachings of the pope, including the invocation of the saints, indulgences, monasticism, and a form of Semi-Pelagianism in which man must add his righteous deeds to the work of Christ in order to receive salvation.

During and after the Reformation, we see the multiplication of false teachers, each with his own agenda and method of blaspheming God’s Name. Many of these begin with the denial of the Holy Sacraments and eventually lead to the errors so rampant today: salvation by an act of man’s choosing God, the “prosperity gospel,” salvation by equality or social justice, dispensationalism, Zionism, the denial of the orders of creation, and the denial that Scripture is the very Word of God.

Not all false teachings are equal. It is entirely possible for a person to go through life believing that Holy Baptism is an act of obedience telling God that he has accepted Him into his heart and still be saved. But to believe that Jesus Christ is not truly God or that God does not exist as three distinct Persons in One Divine Godhead, closes the door to salvation. Every false teaching is like adding some number of dead bugs to your soup. Can you eat a bowl of soup with one bug in it? Sure. But every bug, including the first, carries the possibility of adding a deadly toxin to your food. Likewise, every false teaching adds a little leaven to your faith, such that at some point, the whole lump of your soul will be leavened.

Now, we don’t have the time to describe, define, and refute every false teaching in the world. However, you likely already think of the various false prophets as falling into either doctrinal error or moral error. This morning it is important to realize that this distinction doesn’t matter. Christ says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”[4] False morality is false doctrine, and false doctrine will show itself in false morality.

After warning His disciples to beware false prophets, Christ tells them that these false prophets will be known by their fruits. These fruits are both the teachings that come out of their mouths and the actions of their lives. A good tree bears good fruit because the tree itself is good. Yet we, as humans, cannot see the inner quality of the tree. We cannot read the hearts of man. We must judge the quality, the character, of the tree by what we can see and hear, that is, the fruits which the tree produces.

And when our Lord speaks of the last day, when many will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” He speaks of everyone who claims the Name of Christ without holding the purity of His doctrine. They have persisted against the Second Commandment and yet claim to have done mighty wonders in Christ’s Name.

So what then of the noble pagan, the unbeliever who does objectively good things in this world. Don’t their fruits point to a righteous heart? From our point of view, the fruits of such a noble pagan look delicious. So did the apple offered to Snow White yet it was filled with poison. “Anything done apart from faith is sin.”[5] Apart from faith, all the noble works of the unbeliever are sin and a disgrace to the Name of God. If a work is done without thanks, praise, and in service and obedience to God, then it is sin before Him. So though our eyes are dulled by the sin which clings to us still, even such an appealing fruit reveals the rot within.

There is not much on the surface of this text in the way of comfort. It is a text of warning; warning against the false teachers of this world, against false belief, and the consequences of believing false doctrine.

At the same time, the circumstances of the text provide nothing but comfort. Why does a father require his teenage daughter to be home by 10pm? Because he loves her and because he knows the dangers of the world. What comes across to the daughter as strict warning and even unfair limitation is in fact an act of love. Christ warns you concerning false doctrine and the breaking of the Second Commandment because He loves you.

It is Christ who wept at the fall of Adam and Eve and death of Abel. It is Christ who longed for His people to delivered from the hand of wicked Pharaoh. And it is Christ who shoulders the great weight of your sin and carries it to Calvary. That weight was so great, He stumbled twice on His journey to death. Then, after defeating death by His own glorious crucifixion, He descended into hell to proclaim His victory over the grave. This is the victory He has won for you. He nailed your guilt and shame to the cross that it would forever be left behind in the tomb.

And having done all this for you, He wants you to receive the eternal rewards that are your inheritance through Holy Baptism. This, this great love for you is why He is warning you against false doctrine, false prophets, and sinful living. He has given you His Name as a sign and seal of your salvation when He put it on you in Holy Baptism. You have been given His Name to use it, to honor it, and to glorify it. You sons and daughters of God, who have received the Spirit of adoption and are heirs of heaven with Christ, flee every false way and seek the will of the Father.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Genesis 3:1.

[2] Exodus 32.

[3] St. Matthew 15:9; cf. Isaiah 29:13.

[4] St. Matthew 7:21.

[5] Romans 14:23.

The Commemoration of the Reformation

The Commemoration of the Reformation – October 30, 2022

Psalm 34; Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28

St. Matthew 11:12-19

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The term “antichrist” is used in the Scriptures in both a broad and narrow sense. The broad sense can be found in 1 John 2, in which all false teachers are called “antichrists.”[1] This broad sense is the plain understanding of the word. False teachers stand opposed to Christ, making them “anti-Christ,” “against the Christ.”

The narrow sense of the term “antichrist” is most clearly described in St. Paul’s second letter to the Church in Thessalonica, where he writes as follows:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.[2]

With St. Paul, we can identify 5 marks of this narrow use of the term “Antichrist.”[3] First, the position taken by the Antichrist is called the “falling away,” or apostacy. This means that the Antichrist will lead Christians away from the true doctrine of the Christ, especially the central doctrine of the Scriptures—that “man cannot be justified before God by his own strength, merits, or works, but is freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when he believes that he is received into favor, and that his sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for your sins.”[4]

The second mark of the Antichrist is that he will sit in the temple of God, that is, he will arise from within the Church itself. While it is tempting to claim any number of evil political leaders as “the Antichrist,” this would be contrary to Scripture. The Antichrist shall sit himself within the Church of God and attempt to deceive God’s children from such a position within the Church.

Third, the Antichrist will conduct himself in accord with this seat within the church, namely, he will act as if he was God, Himself. The Antichrist will claim supreme authority over man, refusing to submit to any other authority. He will claim to be above the authority of all creation and to be the soul source of God’s interaction with man.

The fourth mark of the Antichrist is that although he is not Satan himself, his coming and his reign will be built and backed by all manner of lying powers, signs, and wonders. Christ warns us that many will come in His name and even perform miracles, claiming to be from God.[5] All those claiming to be from God must be judged by their doctrine, and that according to the Word of God.

The final mark of the Antichrist is that he will remain until the return of Christ. The Lord will destroy the Antichrist at His visible return and yet, as St. John writes, “As we have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists.”[6] It is this final mark that tells us the term “Antichrist,” when used in this narrow sense, refers not to an individual person, but to an office. An office endures longer than the lifetime of one man and yet remains unchanged until God destroys it.

These five marks are all fulfilled in the office of the Papacy, or the Roman Pope. At the Council of Trent, the Papacy officially declared the biblical doctrine of justification to be accursed, saying that anyone who teaches that man is declared righteous freely through the merits of Christ and cannot add to his own salvation according to his own works is anathema, that is, condemned to hell. Thus, in the Papacy, we can see the greatest and most pronounced “falling away” from the most fundamental article of faith by which man is saved.

Certainly, there are many others in the world who deny the doctrine of Justification, but the Papacy promotes such false doctrine from within the Christian Church. What I mean is that there are Christians in the Roman Catholic Church. There are Christians because they still receive Holy Baptism in the Name of the Triune God. The Holy Scriptures are still read and proclaimed. It is through these means that the Holy Spirit works faith in the hearts of man. It is a miracle of God that there are Christians who, despite the false teachings of the Pope and the seductive nature of the Church body to which they belong, still cling to faith in Christ, trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus alone for their salvation.

In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued Unam Sanctum, declaring that it is necessary for salvation that man be subject to the Roman Pope above all others. This is a matter of official doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church. It is necessary for salvation that man be subject to the Pope above all other authorities on earth. This means that the Pope is above any criticism. It means the Pope alone is supreme in the Church and the world. He submits to no one.

Perhaps the most seductive to the eyes of man are the numerous reports of miracles, visions, and wonders related to the Roman Pontiff. Marian apparitions, miracles of healing, and statues that weep, bleed, or heal are all said to point to the validity of the papacy. In fact, these signs point to the contrary. Since they do not point to Christ, but instead to a man who claims greater authority than the Word of God, they are demonic in origin. I do not deny that some of these signs and wonders have occurred. In fact, I’m certain they have. However, they are signs fulfilling precisely the words of our Lord: “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not lament.”[7]

Finally, in the papacy, we see an office that for a time after the apostles, remained beneath a veil. The early bishops of Rome were pious Christians who sought to lead the flocks God placed under their authority according to the Word of God. But after a time, and certainly by the 14^th century, the nature of the Papacy was revealed to be the very seat of the Antichrist. It is an office which will endure until the return of Christ, when He will destroy the Papacy, along with all who fight against Christ and His reign in the Church.

Why is it worth studying the office of the Antichrist? St. Paul told us that he wrote concerning the man of lawlessness that you would not be “soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter.”[8] A proper understanding of the Antichrist is not necessary for salvation. Salvation is only gained by faith in Christ, a true understanding of the Son of God who took on human flesh to die on behalf of the sin of man, making atonement to the Father and sending His Holy Spirit to bestow such faith on man.

An understanding of the Antichrist serves as both a warning and a comfort. It is a warning in that it draws your attention to the one thing most needful—faith in Jesus Christ. It is a warning against fascination with the mysteries of God which He has chosen not to reveal to man. It is a warning against the seductive signs, wonders, and claims to history of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is a warning against seeing different churches as simply different social clubs. There are doctrinal differences between church bodies and doctrine is important. It is important whether you confess the biblical teaching that the Body and Blood of Jesus is truly present in the Holy Communion. It is important if you confess against the clear teaching of Scripture that one man is given all authority in heaven and earth to bestow salvation on whomever he chooses. These differences matter because given time, false doctrine will destroy faith. Even though there are Christians within the Roman Catholic Church, these Christians are in danger. They are in danger of falling into the trap of the Papacy and placing their faith in the salvation of the Pope, rather than the salvation of Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of the Antichrist is also a comfort, a consolation for your conscience because it forces you to examine the true doctrine of the Scriptures. Here you will find that it is not by your works that you are saved. You will find that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. There is no work you can perform, no amount you can pay, no decision you can make to escape the punishment of hell.

Only the perfect life of Jesus, who willingly kept the Law of God perfect from the moment of His conception to His death on the cross, merits salvation. Only the sacrifice of Jesus on Mount Calvary, willingly offered to the Father on your behalf, can atone for you sin. Only the work of the Holy Spirit, who has called you by the Word of God, the Holy Gospel, can draw you to salvation.

This is a comfort because it does not rely on you. It does not rely on how you feel or how much you understand. Your salvation relies on the Blood of Jesus, shed for you, and the faith bestowed upon you by God to cling to this Word of promise. The Pope in Rome would have you kneel before him in submission to his claim to authority. Jesus Christ submitted to death, even death on a cross for you. We now kneel before Jesus Christ alone, as He alone has called you by the Holy Gospel to join Him in eternity.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 John 2:18.

[2] 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, quoted from the New King James Version (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982).

[3] Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, Volume 3 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 462-469.

[4] AC IV.

[5] St. Matthew 24:24.

[6] 1 John 2:18.

[7] St. Matthew 11:17.

[8] 2 Thessalonians 2:2.