The Joshua Victor Theory

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, a Sunday uniquely devoted to a particular doctrine or theology—not an event in Jesus’ life, or a person, or one of God’s saving acts. But many people have no time for theology . “Abstract philosophical stuff for the libraries and ivory tower! Sounds too much like textbooks and information!” And if theology is cut off from the Living Word of God and turned into an empty pursuit, it can become sterile. But I will strive to show today how the theology of the Trinity flows from the Living Word of God and has direct relevance for our daily Christian life. So what does an average Christian need theology for? Isn’t that just for pastors and professors? Let me ask the question differently. Does the Bible speak to our everyday life and how we live? Does it have anything to teach us about life? Does God intend for the average Christian to study the Bible? And if so, ...

            In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Last Sunday, if you were here, we had a bulletin quote from Luther, that whether God’s Law or man’s law, the law should never bind further than love goes, and that love should be the interpreter of the law. “Where there is no love these things become meaningless and the law begins to do harm. The reason for enacting all laws and ordinances is only to establish love, as Paul says, Romans 13:10 ‘Love therefore is the fulfilment of the law.’” Luther’s reflection and St. Paul’s comments both echo Jesus’ words today. He shows the Law is given that we might love. Jesus sums up the whole of God’s law in two great commandments. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and...