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Lnstructions To The Weak And The Strong According To Romans 14, C. A. Gaertner

Concordia Theological Monthly

Eternal vigilance is the price of Christian liberty which was restored to Christendom through the Lutheran Reformation. Legalism and license always have been and still are the implacable foes of Christian liberty and ultimately of the Gospel itself. Since the Apostolic days church history is replete with instances where entire church bodies fell victim to one or the other. And the pity is that only too frequently matters of indifference, so-called adiaphora, served as the starting point from which either legalism or license sabotaged the priceless boon of Christian liberty. The Lutheran Church must therefore guard with especial care its …

Study On 1 Timothy 1:3-11, Otto E. Sohn

Concordia Theological Monthly

Late in his career, in the early sixties, the Apostle Paul was able to carry out his projected visit to Asia and Macedonia (Philem. 22 and Phil. 1:25; 2:24), at which time he doubtless visited Crete, leaving Titus behind to supply the churches with pastors (Titus 1:5). Likewise he met with Timothy in Ephesus, upon whom he also prevailed not to accompany him to Macedonia, since evil forces were threatening to wreak havoc in the church (1 Cor. 16:9; Eph. 5:16; Acts 19:23 f.). Furthermore, the matter of staffing the churches with pastors and deacons needed attention (1 Tim. 3:1-10, …

Brief Studies, Arthur C. Repp, W. F. Beck

Concordia Theological Monthly

Obstacles to Bible Reading in the Home

In The Sign of Bach

Notes on Col 3:14

God's Grace The Preacher's Tool. A Homiletical Study Of Titus 2:11-14, Richard R. Caemmerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Most pastors read the Christmas Epistle during the holidays. Many preached on it as a text for a Christmas message. As they prepared that sermon, they probably realized that this text speaks only secondarily to congregations. Primarily it is addressed to a pastor, a pastor who is training other pastors. It does not speak specifically of Christmas, but of the redemption of Jesus Christ in general; not specifically of the moods and joys of Christmas, but of the objective of good works in Christian people. Hence the text speaks to pastors about their own ministry to people, especially the ministry …

Notes On Luther's Interpretation Of John 6:47-58, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Christ's discourse in John 6: 47-58 is no doubt one· of the most striking and challenging appeals from the lips of our Savior that are recorded in the Four Gospels.

It constitutes the climax in a long and earnest address delivered by our Lord when His Jewish followers, impressed by the amazing miracle of the feeding of more than five thousand in the wilderness with five loaves and two fishes, came to Capernaum to take Him by force and make Him their King, not indeed because they believed in Him as the promised Messiah, but, as Jesus frankly told them, …

The Message Of The First Epistle Of Peter For Our Day, Eric R. Malte

Concordia Theological Monthly

The purpose of this essay is to interpret and illuminate one of the New Testament Epistles which focuses to a rare degree the interests, needs, and problems of the Church of the first century, and gives classical expression to the teachings of Christ and His Apostles in regard to them. These interests, needs, and problems are not greatly different from those which confront thoughtful Christian men and women the world over today. Of this First Epistle of Peter, Luther once said: “It is one of the noblest books of the New Testament, and the true, pure Gospel."

Sermon Study On 2 Kings 14:8-9, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

This text contains one of the shortest parables of Scripture. One verse tells the story. Its brevity, however, does not impair its dramatic effectiveness. In one telling blow it delivers a graphic, cutting lesson on a deep-rooted evil of human nature.

An Outline Of The First Epistle Of John, Martin J. Hasz

Concordia Theological Monthly

The chief isagogical problem of the Epistle is its structure. Dr. R. C.H. Lenski states: “A curious circumstance about the letter is the fact that it seems to have no divisions. Commentators divide it in one way or in another, and state their reasons for such a division; but when one reads the letter, the proposed divisions do not satisfy. They are upset by the series of repetitions and reiterations that occur throughout the letter. That fact makes some interpreters complain about the lack of logic; but this letter has no formal parts, such as we commonly use and expect. …

Sermon Study On Judges 9:8-15, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

The word fable seems incongruous in the study of Bible teaching. Truth and fiction are incompatible categories. This needs to be said especially in our day when much in the Bible is labeled fiction or myth. However, like the parable, the fable is used by the Holy Spirit as a teaching device of truth.

It is not often that this literary genus is used by the sacred writers. Strictly speaking, there is only one more fable in Scripture besides the one under consideration here. It is very short and is found in 2 Kings 14:9.

Rhetoric In The New Testament: The Diction In Romans And Hebrews, Walter A. Jennrich

Concordia Theological Monthly

Oratory, as a general term, is properly defined as the power to sway an audience by eloquent speech. As far as is known, the art of such effective public speaking was first studied and taught in Greece, where it was called rhetoric. One of the early teachers of rhetoric in this proper sense was Gorgias, the Greek sophist, who brought his art to Athens in 427 B. C. from his native city of Leontini in Sicily. He afterwards settled in Athens, where he continued the practice and teaching of rhetoric. Therefore it is generally agreed that Gorgias is the creator …

Sermon Study Of Isaiah 28:23-29, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

"All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them" (Matt. 13:34). He used "earthly stories with heavenly meaning” that have no equal. "Never man spake like this Man” (John 7:46), because “He taught them as One having authority and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:29). But holy men, moved by the Holy Ghost, also used this teaching device with telling effect. The Old Testament parables are perhaps not so well known. They commend themselves for pulpit use because they present familiar lessons in a different setting. The pastor may want …

Sermonic Study On Isaiah 26:19, Theo. Laetsch

Concordia Theological Monthly

The resurrection of Christ is the foundation on which the faith and hope, the very life of every Christian, is built (1 Cor. 15:14-20). The fact of Easter pertains to the New Testament. But the promise of a future Easter dates back to that day on which sin and death entered into the world and on which the Lord gave to sinful Adam and Eve the blessed assurance of the coming of a Deliverer (Gen. 3:15). This promise served as the basis of Adam's hope and faith, expressed in the name he gave to his wife, Eve, the living, because …

Sermon Study On Is. 50:4-10, Theo. Laetsch

Concordia Theological Monthly

On this passage August Pieper in his Kommentar ueber den zweiten. Teil des Propheten. Jesaias makes the following apt; remarks. “Vv. 4-9 consists of two subdivisions: vv. 4-6, vv. 7-9; the first speaks of the obedience of the Servant; the second, of the support granted Him by the Lord. This passage reads like a prelude to ch. 53. The obedient and suffering Servant of the Lord here states essentially the same facts concerning Himself that the Prophet states concerning Him in ch. 53.

Miscellanea, Ralph Moellering

Concordia Theological Monthly

Miscellanea

The Forgotten Epistle, Otto E. Sohn

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Epistle to Philemon may fitly be called one of the forgotten books of the New Testament. Along with 2 and 3 John it has received but little attention in our synodical literature. And is there anyone among us who has ever preached a sermon on it or on a portion of it?

The Inaugural Vision Of Ezekiel, W. R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Ezekiel is the strangest figure in the goodly fellowship of the prophets . . . probably no book of the Old Testament is as little read as his, and it may well be the least popular, as it is the least known of the Old Testament." This is the verdict on the Book of Ezekiel in the most recent book on the Prophets of the Old Testament. It may comfort the modern Bible student to know that it has troubled the exegetes, Jewish and Christian, through the centuries. Luther quotes Jerome as saying that the early rabbis considered its contents …

Brief Studies In The Prophets, L. Fuerbringer

Concordia Theological Monthly

In our first article on the Prophet Zechariah we spoke in general of his person and his book. We dwelt, furthermore, On a particularly beautiful and significant symbolical action, the crowning of the Priest-King, a clear prophecy of the Messiah. In the present article we shall briefly consider four other Messianic prophecies found in the third section of the book. These prophecies lend to the entire work a special character.

Brief Studies In The Prophets, L. Fuerbringer

Concordia Theological Monthly

In resuming these brief studies, we do so in response to repeated requests by readers of this journal in whom they had aroused interest not only to study in detail the Prophets in question, but also, on the basis of these brief studies, to preach on these Prophets before their congregations in Sunday evening and weekday services or to treat them in their Bible classes for adults.

Book Review. - Literatur, J. H. Fritz

Concordia Theological Monthly

Book Review. - Literatur

Recent Studies In The Chronology Of The Period Of The Kings, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is only natural that the period of the monarchy should hold a prominent place in Old Testament chronological studies. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we find such a mass of chronological data as in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. In fact, the history of the kings of Judah and Israel stands unique among ancient records. Nowhere else is such a complete and detailed system of computation employed; nowhere else do we find such an intricate and exact system of relating events chronologically to other events in the same country and to happenings in foreign lands.

Luther's Text-Critical Study Of 2 Samuel 23:8, Paul Peters

Concordia Theological Monthly

On the 8th of April, 1546, the Council of Trent, in its Fourth Session, passed the Decree Concerning the Edition. and the Use of the Sacred Books and declared that the "old and vulgate edition . . . be ... held as authentic" and that "it be printed in the most correct manner possible."

With this decree the Council of Trent rejected both Luther's translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek original and his revision of the Vulgate. While Luther had finished translating the greater part of the Bible two decades prior to the Fourth Session of the …

Miscellanea, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Miscellanea

Conference Paper On Romans 4:5, H. J. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

A very personal reason prompts the selection of my topic. In my senior year at the Seminary, I had not yet really learned what Christianity really is. To be sure, I was not a scoffer. Far from it. I yearned for the honor of being a Christian, but I did not dare. The sainted Dr. Bente had succeeded in crushing all my pride in human wisdom. In his lectures on the philosophical systems, ancient, medieval, and modern, he had shown us that human reason the moment it tried to explain transcendental problems disregards its own rules of logic in its …

Sermon Study On Micah 7:14-20, Th. Laetsch

Concordia Theological Monthly

The year 1947 is the Centennial year of the organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. The concluding verses of the Book of Micah are a very suitable text for Trinity Sunday in this Centennial year. The Epistle Lesson appointed by the ancient Church for this Sunday speaks of the unsearchable wisdom and the unfathomable judgments of God relating to His plan of salvation, while the Gospel tells us of regeneration and justification by faith as the only way to eternal life. In like manner Micah calls our attention to the marvelous things that God …

Miscellanea, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Miscellanea

Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Theological Observer. – Klrchllch Zeitgeschichtliches (Theological Observer. – Of course contemporary history)

Noah's Curse And Blessing, Gen. 9:18-27, J. Ernest Shufelt

Concordia Theological Monthly

This paper has been prepared with particular reference to the modern implications of Noah's curse upon Canaan. With this purpose in mind a rather critical study of the verses noted above has been undertaken. The following notes and conclusions are the result of this study.

The Revised Standard Version Of The New Testament, W. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

This publication comes to us with the legend on the publisher's jacket: "The most important publication in 1946." At first one may be taken aback by such a strong and apparently daring claim, 1946 having only begun; but a little reflection will lead one to say that here we are not dealing with an exaggeration, such as publishing houses are fond of voicing, but with a truly objective evaluation. A new and at that somewhat official translation of the New Testament- what more important work can there appear in this year of grace?

P 46 And Textual Criticism, Elmer Moeller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Not always have Christians taken kindly to investigations into the exact identity of the inspired words of Holy Scriptures. After Jerome, for example, had edited his Vulgate, making changes in the generally accepted Latin text on the basis of Hebrew manuscripts, he received a letter from Augustine telling him of a certain congregation which had threatened to abandon its bishop unless he restored the old Latin reading of Jonah 4:6, which he had replaced with Jerome's reading.

The Interpretation Of Difficult Bible Passages, W. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

What a grand book we have in the Bible! While we are said to live in a new age since scientists 'have learned how to split the atom and there is preached to us the philosophy of collective action in national and international affairs in the · labor world and politics - a philosophy which is definitely in the saddle and riding fast and furiously-we Lutherans cling to the old Book. We say it comes from God and it leads to God.