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Question 65: You confess that you participate in Christ and his blessings by faith. Where does this faith come from? Answer: The Holy Spirit puts faith into our hearts through the Holy Word and strengthens it through the use of the Holy Sacraments. God does not grant faith to just anyone, but to those who repent and believe in Jesus' death and resurrection. Otherwise, everyone would be under the law. Therefore, God grants those who are free from the law a new birth from heaven through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 3:23-25 ​​“Before faith came, we were kept under the law, kept in custody until the faith would be revealed. So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The word "holy" is synonymous with "sanctification" and "holiness." It signifies a life set apart for God and union with Him in Christ. God recognizes as holy those who died w...

Question 64: Wouldn't such teachings make people indifferent and wicked about good deeds? Answer: No. Those who are united to Christ through true faith cannot help but bear the fruit of gratitude. The question is, if salvation is achieved by God's grace and not by good deeds or effort, wouldn't that make us indifferent to good deeds and become evil? Humans are creatures made up of a combination of flesh and spirit. Because their spirits are imprisoned in a physical body, they are called sinners. However, believers who repent and enter into Jesus Christ believe that their physical body has died, and so their spirits are resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit, and their spirits, clothed in a spiritual body, attain salvation. However, even among saints, there are two bodies within the flesh: a fleshly (sarco) body and a spiritual (pneuma) body. The believer's fleshly mind and spiritual mind are in spiritual conflict. Therefore, while saints may bear good fruit, they c...

Question 63: God has promised to reward good works in this life and the next, so why do you so neglect them?  Answer: Because the reward is not a reward for effort, but a gift of grace. Most pastors in today's church communities claim that, like worldly rewards, there will be rewards (compensations) in the kingdom of God. They say it's a gift of grace, but they're actually trying to motivate believers to strive for the expectation of reward. Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would come to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards (misdapodotes μισθαποδότης) those who diligently seek him." Misdapodotes is not a reward, but an inheritance. It means that God gives an inheritance in the kingdom of God to those who have faith. 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 Or do you not know that all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may receive the prize. Or do you not know that all the runners run,...

Question 62: Why can't we be justified before God through good works, and why are they of no help at all? Answer: Righteousness that can stand before God's judgment must be absolutely perfect and conform to God's law in every way. However, no matter how hard we try, our righteousness is imperfect and still defiled by sin. The way to obtain God's righteousness is to die on the cross with Jesus Christ and believe that you were resurrected with the resurrected Jesus. First, because death, through union with Christ on the cross, fulfills the law. Therefore, God does not hold the dead accountable for their sins according to the law. Because Jesus Christ died on the cross, He became the righteousness of God, and so those who are united with Him also become the righteousness of God. Second, because the saints who died on the cross are united with God and become the righteousness of God, God resurrects them as new creations through the baptism of the Holy Spirit and makes them ...

Question 61: Why do you say that I can be justified before God only by faith? Answer: God does not accept me because of any value in my faith. It is only because of the atonement, righteousness, and holiness of Christ that I am made righteous before God. The only way to make Christ's righteousness mine is through faith. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Philippians 3:7-9 “But whatever things were to my gain, those I counted loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things. I count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Faith is different from self-confidence. However, the faith of many churchgoers tod...

Question 60: How can I be justified before God? Answer: Only through true faith in Jesus Christ. Although my conscience accuses me of having broken all God's commandments, of having failed to keep any of them, and of still being inclined to sin, yet God, though unworthy of me, through true faith in Christ, treats me as if I had never sinned, and as if I had obeyed the obedience of Christ for me, imputing to me the perfect atoning righteousness and holiness of Christ. All I have to do is receive this gift of God with a believing heart. When a believer becomes righteous before God by believing that his physical body died with Jesus on the cross and was resurrected with Jesus, God gives him a holy spiritual body. It's not that I have faith in Jesus Christ, but I must enter into the faith of Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:16 says, "Knowing that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be ju...