As I have grown in faith one area of annoyance to me is the seemingly endless attack on orthodoxy. I am a firm believer in the orthodox Christian faith particularly wih a Luheran perspective that places importance on the preacher and the proclamation of Law and Gospel. The desire in my heart is to proclaim the “both…and” faith that I have grown to love and espouse. One tactic that I have seen is the pulling of many scriptures with parts put in hold to argue a certain point. I have seen variations with just bold, but have also seen it done with different font colors, highlihting, and font sizes along with bold print. Most that utilize this see themselves as having a high view of Scripture in doing so, but they often argue against sound doctrine and orthodoxy. It is the opposite of the same coin as revisionism. Revisionism desires to redact and makes the argument that either the Scriptures don’t say what they say or it was influenced by a culture that did not have the same understanding of the day and if it had it would be different. The other side argues a point utilizing portions of Scripture without utilizing the whole of Scripture. We, as Christians, are called to discern what it says plainly and as it relates to the whole of Scripture and faith. It is important for the faith to be guarded as we look to what it is that we confess. We believe in the necessity of our Lord’s death on the cross for our salvation because it is through his body and blood that we were made right before God and our faith in him and his promises. It is in the fact of our belief that we can be saved and the power of the Holy Spirit that opens the door for belief. It is in the Word of God we find our sole norm of faith and life and it is that Word in which our Lord fully reveals to us His intentions. 2 Timothy 4 warns us that the true proclamation of the Word will not be tolerated and we will face suffering and persecution for it, but we may also rely upon the hope in the promise found in the 2 Timothy 3 which prepares us.
As we stand for the orthodox faith it is important to understand the fullness of the love of Christ which is not like the love that rhe world professes. A both,and faith that we are called to believe, that inspite of our sinfulness our Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross that in our belief and through our baptism we have been adopted as children of God, the old “man” has been buried that the new “man” may be raised to new life in Christ. That hope is where we find relief from destruction we deserve and receive the fullness of the Kingdom of God (see Romans 6).