Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Soteriological Approach To Christian Doctrine., F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Lutheran Confessions present all Christian doctrine from the soteriological standpoint, that is, from the meaning each has for our salvation. Each and every doctrine of Christian revelation must be viewed in actu, not only in statu; it must be within the focus of a real spiritual problem and be presented only in its soteriological significance.

How The Gospel Works, Richard R. Caemmerer Sr.

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the long plan of God we can imagine one good issue emerging from this debate. That is that the meaning of the Gospel becomes clearer and its preaching to the church and the world more apt and timely.

Open Letter To Charismatic Lutherans, Paul F. Hutchinson

Concordia Theological Monthly

The author is pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Missouri, and has been actively involved in aspects of the charismatic movement.

Process Of Preparation - Genesis 22:1-14: From Text To Proclamation, Andrew M. Weyermann

Concordia Theological Monthly

This article is a paper also prepared for the symposium on "Abraham and Archaeology." On Sunday, February 27, 1972, the author preached a sermon on Gen. 22:1-14, the account of the sacrifice of Isaac. Later the author discussed his preparation for the preaching task with the conference.

The Just Shall Live By Faith, Otto W. Heick

Concordia Theological Monthly

When did Luther reach the reformation insight into the doctrine of Justification? The author reviews the literature on the question, and brings to the attention of American readers the work of Uuras Saarnivaara, which has received little scholarly attention since its publication.

Luther On Christ And The Old Testament, James S. Preus

Concordia Theological Monthly

Careful reading of this article will contribute to getting the hermeneutical debate in our Synod beyond the present impasse that has been created by a non-Lutheran posing of the alternatives by so many who are involved in the debate.

Masters In The Making, Alfred Von Rohr Sauer

Concordia Theological Monthly

How can we go about the task of improving our learning? That is the problem that confronts every educational institution, but especially the church-oriented college or seminary. The problem obviously involves both students and faculty members. The improvement of the learning process on the students' part is dependent on the improvement of the teaching process of the instructor. The teaching process, moreover, calls for a large measure of good counseling on the part of the instructor. The more personal attention a student is given by his instructor, the more stimulated and motivated the student will be to pursue bis studies …

Let's Be Lutheran, Lloyd H. Goetz

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Word of God is His self-revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. This is God's final, complete, and greatest communication to man for his salvation.

Erasmus, Luther, And Aquinas, Philip Watson

Concordia Theological Monthly

One of the most recent additions to the growing Roman Catholic literature on Luther is a study of his doctrine of the bondage of the will in the light-as the subtitle of the German edition says-of the Biblical and ecclesiastical tradition. Its author, Harry J. McSorley, endorses Luther's own view of the outstanding importance of his De servo arbitrio as dealing with the most central issue of his reforming work. He also endorses Luther's claim that his primary concern was a reformation, not simply of practical abuses but of doctrine, and he fully agrees that no area of doctrine in …

Theological Education: Crisis And Renewal, Arthur Carl Piepkorn

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the course of the confessional revival in the Church of the Augsburg Confession during the 19th and 20th centuries, Lutheran theologians interpreted the statements of the Symbolical Books about the sacred ministry in three typical ways.

The Gospel And Its Freedom Today: A Foreword, Carl S. Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The proclamation of the gospel with its message of freedom in Christ Jesus is the compelling drive of the churchman's life. To say that the unifying principle of his life's work is the furtherance of the gospel is to say that he is conscious of the basic specification of his task. But it is saying more than that. It postulates a commitment, a conscious program, and the ability to carry out the task. It permeates the churchman's being and total personality, his dealings with his fellow servants, and his conscious evaluation of them and of self.

The Gospel Promise To Abraham, Norman C. Nagel

Concordia Theological Monthly

"How were the people in the Old Testament saved?" That question is raised by students of the Scriptures in many contexts. The wary teacher usually responds by asking for a definition of the word "saved." A related question is posed this way: ''What is the nature of the gospel in the Old Testament?" Such queries open the door to a flood of concerns about the relationship between the Testaments. That flood will not abate in the wake of this brief article. The ravens and doves of biblical theology will hardly be satisfied with anything less than a preservation of past …

The Gospel In The Medieval Church, Carl A. Volz

Concordia Theological Monthly

A curious phenomenon of Protestant and Lutheran historiography since the 17th century has been a studied neglect of the millennium labeled by Renaissance scholars as the "Middle Ages." One reason for this indifference lies in the popular notion that the Reformation was preceded by a thousand years of sub-Christian superstition during which the strong Pauline accent of justification by grace through faith on account of Christ was almost totally ignored. By coloring these centuries dark, the reformers tend to stand in bolder relief as heroic men of God who appeared to correct long-standing abuses in the church. The more sharply …

The Gospel And The Ecumenical Movement, Robert P. Scharlemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The first conference on "Life and Work," held in Stockholm in 1925, appealed to Christians to repent the divisions among them and to make the gospel the decisive power in all areas of life. This conference - the "Nicea of ethics," as it came to be called-was not summoned to discuss the theological or dogmatic questions which divide the churches; it was called to address the churches' task of working together in the public life. The invitation declared the world situation to be so serious that Christians could not afford to await the reunion of churches before setting "hearts and …

The Gospel And Life In Preaching, Andrew M. Weyermann

Concordia Theological Monthly

With a twinkle in his eye and skepticism in his voice a clergyman asked recently, "What, in your opinion, is a good sermon?" One almost despairs of giving an answer. There are so many styles of preaching and so many different kinds of people listening that it appears hopeless to try to give a definition of good preaching which would hold true for everyone in every situation. Even the so-called experts often do not agree. Every seminary has its tales of students who submit the same sermon to two homiletics professors and receive contradictory criticisms from them. The faithful often …

The Gospel And The Urban Crisis, Arthur R. Simon

Concordia Theological Monthly

The urban crisis compels us to reexamine the gospel. It gives the lie to our arrogant supposition that we proclaim the gospel in all its truth and purity. It shows that what we have passed along as pure gospel is really the gospel shaped by cultural accretions. Furthermore, the urban crisis prompts us to confess that the gospel is not believed and understood faithfully when it is viewed as a message detached from its worldly surroundings, because the gospel encompasses a way of life that comprehends in one seamless robe the words that express the good news as well as …

Documentation: A Response To Some Critical Questions, Reuben C. Baerwald

Concordia Theological Monthly

Many critical questions have been raised about Synod’s New York resolution on fellowship with the American Lutheran Church(ALC). These questions challenge the reality of the doctrinal agreement and point to many problems and differences in church practice. The following material picks up many of these questions (some from a widely distributed essay, “To Join or Not to Join,” by Robert Preus), and provides a positive response.

A Topical Sermon, Andrew Weyermann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The sermon in this issue calls attention to the possibility of dealing with very specific and even rather difficult subjects from the pulpit. It is not necessary for sermons to restrict themselves to generalities, and it is possible for preachers to build on, rather than continually repeat, the “foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." (Heb. 6:1)

Sexuality, Marriage, And Divorce In 1 Corinthians 6:12-7:16, Walter J. Bartling

Concordia Theological Monthly

No other social institution can begin to compete with marriage as a subject of ethical concern and reflection on all levels and in all periods of Biblical thought (for example, the opening chapters of Genesis, specific regulatory injunctions in the Torah, the ethical message of the prophets, wisdom literature - both canonical and extracanonical, the Sermon on the Mount, the Tables of Duties in Paul and Peter). Equally important for a study of marriage are the varying patterns of marital and familial life reflected in passing references and allusions in historical accounts (for example, the patriarchal family history, the chronicles …

Fellowship, Thomas Coates

Concordia Theological Monthly

On the morning of New Year's Day several years ago I stood in the outer court of Yasukuni Shrine in the city of Tokyo. New Year's Day, of course, is the highest festival day of the Shinto religion, when virtually all of the Japanese go to the shrines to pay their respects to their ancestors and begin the new year with "'a clean slate." For some time I watched with fascination as the worshipers bowed before the sanctuary, clapped their hands three times to awaken the attention of the spirits, cast their coins into the coffer, bought their good luck …

Brief Studies, Marvin W. Anderson, Herbert T. Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Professor Gordon Rupp: The Optimism of Grace

Toward Lutheran Unity

The Treasure Of The Church, Walter R. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

If being on the cover of Time magazine is the status symbol of our age, then Martin Luther has it made. The issue of March 24, 1967, carried his picture, painted by Time cover artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. There's not much left in the status department, except perhaps being named "Man of the Year" or being belatedly canonized. The latter has been seriously suggested, but the former won't happen. This is 1967, not 1517. Religion could hardly be called decisive in national or international affairs. A protest against the sale of indulgences would be meaningless. Poor Tetzel couldn't give …

Overview Of Pastoral Counseling, Leonhard C. Wuerffel

Concordia Theological Monthly

In his editorial preface to a volume titled An Introduction to Pastoral Counseling, Wayne Oates makes the observation: "The pastor, regardless of his training, does not enjoy the privilege of electing whether or not he will counsel with his people. … His choice is not between counseling or not counseling, but between counseling in a disciplined and skilled way and counseling in an undisciplined and unskilled way." Recent studies have also made it very clear that pastors hold a central and strategic position as counselors in today's society. Clinebell succinctly phrases the challenge: "It is obvious that clergymen are on …

Luther On Justification, John F. Johnson

Concordia Theological Monthly

Once upon a time every student of theology identified in any way with the Lutheran Confessions was able to read, pronounce, and understand the expression articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae. More importantly, he was not only able to read it; he believed with all his heart that this designation referred to the doctrine of justification. Indeed, this has always been the distinguishing mark of evangelical Lutheranism.

Worship: The Divine Alchemy, Thomas Coates

Concordia Theological Monthly

In medieval lore, scientists sought to use the process of alchemy to transmute base metals into gold. Alchemy proved to be a pseudoscience, for men have devised no method to create the precious metal out of elements that are common and coarse. But in a higher sense, and in the spiritual realm, God achieves that which to man is impossible: He takes these base, ignoble elements, these earthen vessels - our stumbling words, our faltering prayers, our paltry gifts, our flawed works, our frail and sin-scarred lives - and transmutes them into gold, into offerings fit for the King.

The Continuing Significance Of Luther's Prefaces To The New Testament, Werner Georg Kuemmel

Concordia Theological Monthly

When Martin Luther published his first translation of the New Testament into the German language in 1522, he did not publish the Biblical texts alone. He provided his readers with some help by prefaces to the whole New Testament and to the individual books. These prefaces were reprinted in all the following editions of the New Testament and of the whole Bible until the 17th century, but Luther took one of them out and changed the text of a few of them in later editions.

Salvation By Grace: The Heart Of Job's Theology, Alfred Von Rohr Sauer

Concordia Theological Monthly

God desires that anyone who fears Him and serves Him should do that gratis, for nothing. Serving God for nothing, fearing God for nothing-that is the theme that runs through the Book of Job. In the prologue (Chs. 1-2) the author states that Job was a man who feared God and eschewed evil. The lord also told Satan in the prologue that His servant Job was a man who feared God and shunned wickedness. So Job was considered a pious, God-fearing man; there was no question about that, even Satan conceded that point. The question, however, was this: What was …

The Unity Of The Church And Her Worship, Walter E. Buszin

Concordia Theological Monthly

To possess a good understanding of the worship of the church one must possess as well an understanding of the doctrine of the church. Both, the church and her worship, are unique; each shares significant characteristics of the other. Both are creations of the Holy Spirit; both are spiritual in their very essence. The church can neither thrive nor exist without worship. Christian worship, on the other hand, is inconceivable without the church. The church is not only the locus operandi of all true Christian worship; it is also the agency of the Holy Spirit and as such prompts the …

Luther Against Erasmus, James I. Packer

Concordia Theological Monthly

On Sept. 6, 1524, Desiderius Erasmus, the foremost literary man of his day, sat in his study writing a letter to a distinguished friend and patron, Henry VIII, King of England. In the course of his letter came the words: ''The die is cast. The little book on free-will has seen the light of day." He was referring to his Diatribe seu collatio de libero arbitrio ("Discussion or Conference Concerning Free Will"), which had been published at Basel five days earlier. He wrote more truly than he knew. The die was now cast indeed. A Rubicon had been crossed, and …

To Know And To Do: A Review Article On Training Children In The Work Of Worship, George W. Hoyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Learning How Children Worship is the title of a recent book by Grace W. McGavran. So many things are left unsaid in this book about the God who is to be worshiped and about the tremendous things which that God has done and does to make worship by the children of men possible that the critical theological reader might miss the significance of the major thing which is being said. Miss McGavran poses the question: "Are the children aware of the times of worship and what it should be for them - a conscious effort to enter into the presence …