Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Psalms And The Good Life Of God’S People, Rachel Mccloskey

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

We belong to Christ who speaks his word to us. As a creedal church body, we recognize that God’s word is not only a word to be received, but a word to be confessed back to him. As the Spirit works through the word, he forms and shapes us as God’s confessing people. It has a transformative effect. We belong to Christ and his word does not leave us unchanged.

Righteousness And Salvation, Tibebu Senbetu

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Some of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus (EECMY) members’ understanding of righteousness and salvation fits into neither Pauline nor Jacobite teaching.1 This short paper examines whether Christians in Ethiopia today correctly understand the whole account of Scripture about righteousness and salvation. It also analyzes what the Scriptures and the Lutheran teachings say on the subject. Knowingly or unknowingly, the full biblical message on soteriology has been neglected by some Christians, which has resulted in a confused understanding of righteousness and salvation. Finally, this paper attempts to bridge the gap between the …

Epiphany 2 • Isaiah 49:1–7 • January 19, 2014, Erik Herrmann

Concordia Journal

This is the great epiphany—the mystery hidden for ages but now revealed, the surprising “new thing” of God’s salvation!

Advent 2 • Isaiah 11:1–10 • December 8, 2013, Francis Rossow

Concordia Journal

We are thankful to the Lion of Judah for “sharing our fare,” for eating “straw like the ox.” Because he did so, we now enjoy eternal peace with him, just like the peace pictured between the lion and the ox in verse 7 of our text.

Epiphany • Ephesians 3:1–12 • January 4, 2015, Joel Okamoto

Concordia Journal

Now, instead of the law separating Jews and Gentiles, God offered salvation apart from works of the law to both Jews and Gentiles.

Proper 19 • Genesis 50:15–21 • September 14, 2014, Paul Philp

Concordia Journal

Filled with fear before the power of Joseph to kill them, and in the absence of Jacob to protect them, they come face-to-face with the temporal consequences of their sins.

Proper 16 • Isaiah 51:1–6 • August 24, 2014, Francis Rossow

Concordia Journal

This passage is about the end times in which the gospel is not only present (as it is in all such readings) but in which it predominates.

Proper 15 • Isaiah 56:1, 6–8 • August 17, 2014, Robert W. Weise

Concordia Journal

hose whom the Lord has bound to himself through the waters of baptism, establishing the Christian’s identity, serve him and love the name that is above every name—Jesus Christ.

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.

Walther's Theology Of The Word, Carl S. Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

C. F. W. Walther (1811-1887), the premier theologian of the Missouri Synod, was a dogmatician who relied heavily on the writers of Lutheran Orthodoxy of the 16th and 17th century. He made little use of the historical-exegetical method. John Philipp Koehler, the historian of the Wisconsin Synod, points out, for instance, regarding the proposal to have one joint theological seminary within the Synodical Conference in 1878: “Walther's hobby, the Latin disputation, with Latin the medium of instruction, as embodied in the Missouri proposals for the joint seminary was as antiquated scholasticism and besides would have kept the whole study of …

Clement Of Rome And His Use Of Scripture, Herbert T. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Clement of Rome provides a good example of how a pastor's Hermeneutical principles, theological presuppositions, and practical concerns interact to influence his understanding and application of the Gospel.

Evangelization And Humanization, Won Yong Ji

Concordia Theological Monthly

In his article Dr. Ji offers a review and critique of the Frankfurt Declaration and indicates the nature of a sound conjunctive relationship between evangelization and humanization in the Christian mission today. Variations of this article have appeared in Lutheran World, XVII (1970), 358-361, and Lutherische Rundschau, XX (1970), 468--472.)

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 …

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 Political Structures, Jobst Schoene

Concordia Theological Monthly

The situation which suggests this theme is unique in more than one respect. Hardly ever in the history of theology has there been such intensive and impassioned questioning and contention concerning the relations between the gospel and political structures as today. That this is true also of the discussion within the Lutheran churches becomes evident the moment one investigates the problems posed by the concepts "gospel'' and "political structures." The rapid change of the political structures all over the world renders the answers from the Lutheran tradition, which have only too often been identified with the statements of Scripture and …

The Significance Of The Dogma Concerning Christ As Defined By The Council Of Chalcedon, Herbert J. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

Jesus asked His disciples at Caesarea Philippi: "What do the people say about who I am? What do you say?" (cf. Matt.16:13-16). Jesus asked His enemies: "What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?" (Matt.22:42). The people, in turn, in perplexity and resentment asked Jesus: "Who do you claim to be?" (John 8:53). And when Saul of Tarsus was struck down near the city of Damascus and was confronted by the risen Lord, Saul's first question was: "Who are you, Lord?" (Acts 9:5)

The Hermeneutical Problem And Preaching, V. C. Pfitzer

Concordia Theological Monthly

One is sometimes tempted to the thought that the theologian's work is often carried out not in obedience to the Great Commission of Matt. 28:19 f.: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations … teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," but rather in compliance with an unknown saying which might run: "Go ye therefore and discuss with all nations, … and make into problems whatsoever I have commanded you.” It is thus with some diffidence that I have left the word "problem" in the heading of this paper. But I do it for the following …

The "Jesus Of History" And The "Christ Of Faith": In Relation To Matthew's View Of Time-Reactions To A New Approach, Jack Kingsbury

Concordia Theological Monthly

The expression "Jesus of History - Christ of Faith" is a relatively recent idiom, the roots of which can be traced back to a lecture delivered in 1892 by the German systematician Martin Kahler, who entitled his address “The So-Called Historical Jesus and the Historic, Biblical Christ." In the last decade this idiom has come to specify a particular problem that has engaged the interest of New Testament scholars with great intensity. The problem is given with the fact that Jesus died about A. D. 30 but that all of the written materials we possess about Jesus were set down …

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 …

The Creation Account Of Genesis: Guidelines For An Interpretation, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

This paper addresses itself to the problem of how to read correctly what two books have to say on the same subject matter.

In both of them God speaks to us of what He has done. Since He does not contradict Himself, what He says in one book must be found to be in accord with what He proclaims in the other.

The two books of God are Holy Scripture and the book of nature. Both have something to say to us about the topic of creation.

The Self-Understanding Of The Church, Martin L. Kretmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The theme of the 1965 convention of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod will be the words of our lord to His disciples when He appeared to them on the evening of the day of his resurrection: "As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you." Special attention will be given to the latter phrase in devotions and essays, and the whole convention proceedings will center in the concept that the church, the body of all who believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as their lord and Savior, is sent into the world on His mission, to …

The Law-Gospel Tension In Jeremiah, Theodore M. Ludwig

Concordia Theological Monthly

The relationship between judgment and grace is a basic question in Biblical interpretation. God's fierce judgment and His unconditional grace stand side by side in the Biblical testimony, and on unresolved tension exists between these two aspects of God's self-disclosure. The tendency among Bible scholars today is to try to resolve this tension by building a "bridge" between judgment and grace, by some theological interpretation which demonstrates that God's judgment on His people leads directly to their salvation. In the study of the Book of Jeremiah the tension is commonly resolved by the idea of God's judgment as a disciplinary …

Old Testament Theology As Heilsgcschichte, Arlis John Ehlene

Concordia Theological Monthly

An important group of Old Testament scholars in Germany and America is currently making copious use of the term Heilsgeschichte and the ideas associated with it. Avoided until recently by scientific theologians as suggestive of Biblicism and obscurantism, it has staged a comeback as a key word in some of the most respected scholarly circles.

The Old Testament In The Pulpit, Herbert T. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

How much should the pastor preach from the Old Testament? Probably the general answer should be: More than he has been doing. A brief review of sermon study series and sermon books published for pastors of The Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod reveals an average of four or five New Testament studies for each Old Testament text.

Dangerous Trends In Modern Theological Thought, K. Runia

Concordia Theological Monthly

When we approach the problem of demythologizing from this starting point, it is beyond question that the Bible rejects every attempt in this direction.

God's Tabernacles Among Men: A Study Of The Transfiguration, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

One of the features found in all accounts of the Transfiguration of our Lord is the suggestion of Peter: "Let us build here three tabernacles." We are not told what Jesus' answer to this request was, but from the sequence of events it is clear that it went unheeded.

The Word Of God In The Theology Of Lutheran Orthodoxy, Robert D. Preus

Concordia Theological Monthly

The intention of this paper is not to offer a complete delineation of the doctrine of the Word of God in the theology of Lutheran orthodoxy, a project entirely too vast to be undertaken within our limited space. Our interest is to learn what the orthodox Lutheran teachers say to us on the specific issues now under debate. I have therefore restricted this study to a simple twofold purpose: (l) to present and analyze what Lutheran orthodoxy has said on the chief problems concerning the doctrine of the Word and (2) to offer significant observations regarding the real concerns and …

The Will Of God In The Life Of A Christian, Eugene F. Klug

Concordia Theological Monthly

In what has been called "the greatest piece of theological writing" to come from his pen, The Bondage of the Will, Luther scores his contemporary Erasmus very sorely because of his unwillingness to assert plainly and forthrightly each and every truth which the Scriptures contain. Erasmus took a stance frequently duplicated today when theologians contend that Scripture does not contain propositional truth. Although we grant, of course, that it does not embrace formulations like a dogmatics textbook, the fact is that Scripture, as Luther reminded Erasmus, contains many doctrinal assertions which must be expressed and defended. "Take away assertions," Luther …

Rudolf Bultmann And The Sacrament Of Holy Baptism, John H. Elliott

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, a pre-existent divine Being, who appears on earth as a man. He dies the death of a sinner on the cross and makes atonement for the sins of men. His resurrection marks the beginning of the cosmic catastrophe … all who belong to Christ's Church and are joined to the Lord by Baptism and the Eucharist are certain of resurrection to salvation. . .. "

Editorial Comment, Martin H. Scharlemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

There they were! In front of them lay the Sea of Reeds; behind them were the troops of Pharaoh. To Moses came the order from God Himself, "Tell the people to go forward!" At His command an east wind began to blow strongly enough to create a way of escape for Israel and a path of destruction for its enemies. God's word is always one of power. When He speaks things begin to move - forward! In fact, His action is at times His first word, giving promise of more to come.