God, Christ & the Trinity
19 questions in this topic
Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?
Yes, bodily and historically—the empty tomb, the hundreds of eyewitnesses, and the disciples' transformation from cowards to martyrs all point to a real resurrection, not a legend. Everything in the faith hangs on this one fact.
Read it →How Can Jesus Be Both God and Man?
Not a contradiction but a confession: one person, two complete natures, divine and human, united without mixture or division. Salvation required both—only God could conquer death, only a true man could die in our place.
Read it →Is God Angry with Me?
Scripture is honest that God's wrath against sin is real. But it points those who trust Christ to the one place that anger was already spent—the cross—so that for you, in Christ, there is no condemnation left.
Read it →Is God in Control of Everything?
Yes—God upholds and governs all things, down to the sparrow. But his control doesn't make him the author of evil, and it isn't fatalism; it's usually hidden rather than absent, which is why it finally comes down to trust.
Read it →Is Jesus God?
Yes, fully God and fully man—not a later church invention but the New Testament's own claim, which rules out 'just a good teacher' as an option. Only God could bear the world's sin; only a man could die in our place, which is why the Savior had to be both.
Read it →Is Jesus the Only Way to God?
According to Jesus himself, yes—not Christian arrogance but a report of where God actually did the rescuing. Every other path proposes climbing up to God; the Gospel says the gap was too great, so God came down instead.
Read it →Was Jesus Really Tempted?
Yes, genuinely—not a staged performance, though as God he could not ultimately have fallen. He bore the full weight of temptation precisely because he never gave in, which is why he can sympathize with and help those who are tempted.
Read it →What Does 'He Descended into Hell' Mean?
Not more suffering—the cross already finished that. The descent was a triumphant proclamation of victory over sin, death, and the devil, planting Christ's flag in death's own territory as the first step of his exaltation, not the last of his humiliation.
Read it →What Does It Mean That God Is My Creator?
Luther's First Article makes creation startlingly personal: 'God has made me'—and still daily provides everything I need, all out of fatherly goodness, without any merit in me. The right response is not merely assent but trust and thanksgiving.
Read it →What Does It Mean to Be Made in God's Image?
To be his representative, made to know, reflect, and rule under him—damaged but not erased by the fall. Christ, the perfect image, restores it in believers, which is why every human life, at every stage, carries inviolable worth.
Read it →What Is God Like?
Known only because he has told us—merciful and just, holy and loving, at once and without contradiction, though these can feel impossible to hold together. Where they seemed to collide, God reconciled them at the cross.
Read it →What Is the 'Theology of the Cross'?
A theology of glory expects to find God in power, success, and visible strength. A theology of the cross knows that God reveals himself most truly where we'd least look—in weakness, suffering, and the crucified Christ. It's the key to how Lutherans read God, suffering, and the Christian life.
Read it →What Is the Trinity?
One God eternally existing as three distinct persons—not three gods, not one God wearing three masks. Not deduced but confessed, because it's how God revealed himself; a mystery to adore, not a puzzle fully solvable by human logic.
Read it →What Is the Virgin Birth, and Why Does It Matter?
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not a human father—part of the historic creedal confession, not an optional legend, and no harder to accept than the resurrection. It safeguards the incarnation itself: the seam where the eternal God entered creation as a true man.
Read it →Where Did Evil and Sin Come From?
Not from God, who made everything good—evil entered through the misuse of creaturely freedom, when angels and then Adam and Eve turned from him. Scripture never fully explains why a good creature would turn from a good God; instead of an explanation, it offers a remedy: the cross.
Read it →Where Is Jesus Now?
Bodily ascended and reigning at the Father's right hand—not absent but actively ruling, still fully God and man, still interceding for his people. He ascended visibly; the same promise says he'll return the same way.
Read it →Who Is the Holy Spirit?
God himself—the third person of the Trinity, a person who speaks and can be grieved, not a force or a feeling. He works ordinarily through means (the Word, Baptism, the Supper), always pointing away from himself to Christ.
Read it →Who Made God?
No one—the question assumes God is one more thing inside the universe needing a cause, but he's the uncaused, eternal Being everything else depends on. Every chain of dependent causes needs an anchor that doesn't itself depend on anything; that anchor is God.
Read it →Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
Because real forgiveness is never free—someone always absorbs the cost. At the cross God satisfies his own justice and rescues the guilty at once, taking the penalty into himself so the debt is truly paid, not just overlooked.
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