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Representative Universalism And The Conquest Of Canaan, A. J. Mattill Jr.

Concordia Theological Monthly

The problem of the nature of the conquest of Canaan has long puzzled biblical scholars. The Book of Joshua opens with the Lord promising Joshua "every place" that the sole of his foot shall tread upon, "from the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea.

The Secret Of God's Plan, Harry G. Coiner

Concordia Theological Monthly

A restive search is going on today, and almost everyone is engaged in it. The search is for meaning in life, for significance, for purpose. Captured by a meaningless job and caged inside four walls with a TV set for companionship, modern man feels trapped. We need not extend the picture except to suggest that a disintegrating anguish takes possession of people when suddenly they realize that life is empty and sterile, completely lacking in meaning for them. One single devastating question keeps begging for an answer: Why live? The author of Ecclesiastes struggled with this question long ago and …

The Teaching Of The New Testament Concerning The Church, Bruce M. Metzger

Concordia Theological Monthly

Today the word "church" has a wide of meanings. These include: (1) the totality of Christian believers as the Church universal; (2) a local congregation, whether gathered at one place for worship or not; (3) a building used for public worship; (4) a denomination; and (5) the clerical profession. Of these five common meanings. only the first two appear in the New Testament; the others are of later development. For example, though today we speak of "the church which is located on such-and-such a street," the earliest known reference to a church building dates from the second century. During the …

God's Acts As Revelation, Martin H. Scharlemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

There Is!" replied Jeremiah to the secret query of King Zedekiah whether there was a word from the Lord for the problem at hand. In this instance it was a message of judgment, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon" (Jer. 37:17). Just how did the prophet know this? In what way did God make His will known in this Case? By a dream? In a vision? By some special intuition or divine insight? We are not told more than that "the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah" (e.g., 37:6). We are, however, assured …

Faith Triumphant-Echoes From The Epistle To The Hebrews, Paul M. Bretscher

Concordia Theological Monthly

Who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews? No one knows. But every reader of this epistle does know that its author was a man of faith. The term "faith" appears some 30 times in the epistle. Together with related terms, it constitutes one of the chief motifs in the epistle. On the basis of this epistle, we shall examine I. The Nature of Faith, and II. The Triumph of Faith.

The Conquest Of Canaan According To Joshua And Judges, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

Many Old Testament scholars find two opposing views regarding the Israelite conquest of Canaan in the books of Joshua and Judges. In the former the 12 tribes are represented as achieving full possession of the Promised Land through a few swift victories resulting in immediate and full occupation. In the Book of Judges, on the other hand, the process is described as gradual, beset by many reverses, and incomplete for a long time. The first, it is said, is an idealized picture; the latter is more true to the facts.

It is the purpose of this study to examine these …

The Word Of The Lord Grew: The Historical Character Of The New Testament Word, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Word of the Lord grew" -three times in the Book of Acts Luke uses this sentence to sum up a period of the history of the first church (Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20). These words are a telling expression of the Biblical conception of the divine Word. Our Lord Himself compared the Word to a seed that is sown and sprouts and grows: 'The seed is the Word of God" (Luke 8:11). The Word of the Lord is a power and is active; it "prevails mightily," as Luke puts it in one of the passages just referred to (Acts 19:20). …

Biblical Presuppositions For Church Discipline, Herbert J. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

Speak unto all the congregation of the Children of Israel and say unto them, Ye shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy." (Lev. 19:2)

In this brief statement may be found a comprehensive outline of the revelation of God in the Scriptures and of the engrossing story of God's ways and dealings with men.

Aids To Bible Study: The Septuagint-Its History, Frederick W. Danker

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Gentlemen, have you a Septuagint?" Ferdinand Hitzig, eminent Biblical critic and Hebraist, used to say to his class. "If not, sell all you have, and buy a Septuagint." Current Biblical studies reflect the accuracy of his judgment. This and the next installment are therefore dedicated to the task of helping the Septuagint come alive for Biblical students who may be neglecting its contributions to the total theological picture, for clergymen who have forgotten its interpretive possibilities, and for all who have just begun to see how new things can be brought out of old.

History And Eschatology In Luke-Acts, Robert H. Smith

Concordia Theological Monthly

Fifty and seventy-five years ago the burning question in studies of Acts concerned the factual accuracy of Luke's record, which seemed to differ from, even to contradict, Paul's account in his epistles. The integrity of Luke was assailed by all but the most conservative. Source criticism was in full flood, and Acts was dissected and divided into tiny segments which were labeled "Jerusalem A" or "Jerusalem B" or "Antioch" or "Peter" or some such tag, depending on the exegete and his predilections. Some said that Luke could not have known what really happened. Others imagined that he knew but chose …

The Sermon And The Propers, Fred H. Lindemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

This festival is known also as the Theophany, the Manifestation of God; the Feast of the Three Kings; and Twelfth - or in Lutheran Sweden, as Thirteenth - Day. A large· section of the church still observes it as the Christmas Festival. In a degree it must be associated with Christmas, but there is a distinct advance in its teaching. The Babe of Bethlehem is revealed as God, the splendor of the divine glory bursting through the humanity. The feast is the complete fulfillment of Advent, the highest point of the Christmas cycle.

Marriage, A Type Of God's Relationship To His People, Arthur J. Crosmer

Concordia Theological Monthly

A very rewarding searching of Scripture consists in pursuing a certain theme through all its pages, such as the topic of this paper. Tracing the references to marriage in the Bible as a type of God's relationship to His people leads to a new understanding of the beauties of God's Word. It reveals anew God's overwhelming love for the sinner. It strengthens faith in the testimony of all of Scripture of Jesus as Very God of Very God. It leads the believer to confess more earnestly: "I believe in the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints," the bride of …

Let Jeremiah Speak Today!, Alfred Von Rohr Sauer

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is regrettable that a prophet of the stature of Jeremiah who has so much to say to our generation is virtually unknown among our people and not too familiar among our pastors. Here was a man who, as his name indicates, was "hurled into the life of his nation” (Baughman), in much the same way as Christians today are brought face to face with the problems of their country and community. This was a man who was ''born to be at odds with and in opposition to the whole world" (Welch), just as the modem disciple of Christ finds …

The Message Of Law And Gospel In The Old Testament, Alfred Von Rohr Sauer

Concordia Theological Monthly

In treating this topic the writer purposes to approach his task neither from the systematic, nor from the historical, nor from the practical point of view. He intends to let the Scriptures of the Old Testament speak for themselves. In fact, he will restrict the scope of his work by directing the reader's attention not to the entire Old Testament, but rather chiefly to the Prophets and Psalms; not to all the Prophets and poets, but chiefly to the Prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries B. C. and to those poets who sing especially about God's judgment and grace.

The Covenant Of Blood, Paul M. Bretscher

Concordia Theological Monthly

The ceremonial and spiritual climax of the Old Testament religion was the Feast of the Passover; in the New Testament it is the Lord's Supper. In these two feasts, especially as the one merges into the other, the covenant of blood is revealed in its fullest clarity and beauty. The words that Jesus spoke that Passover night in the Upper Room, ''This is My blood of the new Testament," are the simple key which confirms and summarizes the unity of the testaments in the covenant of blood. If this cup is the blood of Jesus Christ in the new testament, …

The Covenant Of Blood, Paul M. Bretscher

Concordia Theological Monthly

In both the Old Testament and the New the idea of redemption is closely related to that of atonement. Redemption is simply another picture of salvation, another facet in the diamond of God's gracious covenant with fallen man.

Grace Of God In The Old Testament (Concluded), Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

After making a rapid survey of the terms that the Old Testament employs to denote the grace of God, we need to say that these words are not the fleeting sound of empty vocables. Nor do they describe an abstraction in the nature of a Platonic idea. They tell what God does to save men from the curse of their separation from Him and to bring them a life in blessed communion with Him. Our next task is, therefore, to trace how the grace of God entered the lives of the Old Testament believers to bring them salvation.

The Grace Of God In The Old Testament, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

The above topic asserts that the Old Testament does not only proclaim a God of wrath, but also makes known a gracious God. Man exists and can endure God's presence only because God's wrath does not annihilate him.

The Concept Of Sin In The Old Testament, Alfred Von Rohr Sauer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The aim of the present study is to survey in a general way what the Old Testament teaches concerning sin. That the Old Testament presents an authentic historical account of the origin of sin has long been regarded as pre-eminently important by the Church. The realistic way in which the Old Testament depicts the tyrannical power of sin among men, and especially in the history of God's people, has also been recognized as an important phase of Old Testament revelation. In our circles, however, not much thought has been given to a systematic study of what the Old Testament as …

Church And Church History In The Confessions, Jaroslav Pelikan

Concordia Theological Monthly

The current revival of interest in the doctrine of the Church has far-reaching significance for many areas of theological study. Without an adequate appreciation of the nature of the Church much of Christian doctrine cannot attain full articulation. For example, there has always been a close connection between the doctrine of the Church and the doctrine of the means of grace, as Article V of the Augsburg Confession shows. The study of the Old Testament as the record of God's dealings with His people, of the New Testament as the account of God's establishment of His new people, of liturgy …

Sermon Study On Amos 8:11-12 For Sexagesima, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

The words of Amos, and this text in particular, may not attract the Gospel preacher as a basis for his pulpit message. The Law and the curses of the Law are all that this text seems to contain. Why preach from Sinai when our message comes from Calvary?

Sermonic Study On Micah 5:2-8, Th. Laetsch

Concordia Theological Monthly

“And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, smaller than to be among the thousands of Judah." The Prophet addresses Bethlehem, and in order to distinguish it from a Bethlehem in Zebulon (Joshua 19:15), its ancient name Ephratah, the fruitful, is added. This is the only time that Bethlehem is construed as a masculine, perhaps because the term is not merely to be the name of a city (cities, as a rule, are feminine) but is also to convey the significant meaning of this name, “the house of bread." “House," bet, is masculine in Hebrew. Here He was born who is indeed the “Bread …

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.

The Term "Fear God" In The Old Testament, H. O. Keinath

Concordia Theological Monthly

The words "fear," "fearful," "fearfulness," occur rather frequently in the Bible. It would be a mistake to assume, however, that each "fear" of the King James Version is a translation of the same Hebrew word. In the Old Testament we find that no less than seventeen Hebrew words of different roots are at some time or other rendered by "fear," "fearfulness," etc., in the Authorized Version.

New Testament Light On Old Testament ''Millennialistic" Prophecies, Walter H. Koenig

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some months ago, it happened that I came to grips with an ardent disciple of Premillennialism. To meet the man's arguments, I was driven to the Bible, as I found very little help outside of it. Especially on one point did I wish clarity: How does the Holy Ghost in the New Testament apply prophetic passages which millennialists interpret literally but which we interpret spiritually? What is the basis of our spiritual interpretation of Old Testament prophecy? My paper is intended to draw out the meaning of Scripture - and it will offer an example of one of the prime …

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.

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 …

Outline For A History Of The Old Testament Canon, Rudolph Gehle

Concordia Theological Monthly

At one time or another all of us have picked up a magazine to find an advertisement screaming at us that we now have a chance to buy the missing pages from our Bible, pages that for centuries have been forbidden or lost, but now available for a few cents. As a result many have asked the question: Is our Bible really complete? Is something essential perhaps missing from our Bible as we have it?

Dispensationalism Examined And Found Wanting, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Premillennialism is currently very popular with the Fundamentalists. The doctrinal statements of all Fundamentalist associations profess belief in the premillennial coming of Christ and of His visible rule on earth during the millennium. Likewise, the Holiness and Pentecostal bodies teach the premillennial coming of Christ. "Christ, the coming king," is one of the four main points of the Foursquare Gospel.

The Mystery Of The Trinity, N. Friedmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

"I believe with sincere faith that the Creator-Blessed be His name! - is One and that there is no other unity such as He is." These words, confessed by Jews, form the second of the thirteen articles of faith drawn up by Maimonides for the purpose of combating the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. This article of faith is the chief basis of the obstinate opposition of present-day Jewry to the Christian religion. They assert that believing in a Triune God is the same as believing in polytheism, forbidden by God in the First Commandment. It is our purpose to …