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The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther was ready to give up his life ln the blessed cause of the reunion of Christendom. "I want you [M. Bucer] to believe me that I wish this dissension of ours settled, even though my life had to be sacrificed three times over on account of it, because I saw how necessary your fellowship is to us, how much harm the dissension has done and still does to the Gospel. ... May the Lord Jesus enlighten us and perfectly unite us-this is the burden of my prayer, the burden of my supplication, the burden of my sighs." (XVII:1975.) That …

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Interim hat den Schalk hinter ihm!" When the attempt was made to reconcile Lutheranism and Catholicism by means of the Augsburg Interim, the Lutheran laymen rose in their might and declared: "Selig ist der Mann, Der Gott vertrauen kann Und willgt nicht ins Interim, Denn es hat den Schalk hinter ihm!" "Of the Interim beware, For a knave is hiding there." (Hurst, History of the Christian Church, II, p. 217.) When Melanchthon and others offered the Church a modified form of this union document in the Leipzig Interim, 1548, the Lutherans at once detected the same knave hiding there. And …

The Anselmic View Of The Atonement, Thomas Coates

Concordia Theological Monthly

The doctrine of the atonement has always been one of the cardinal tenets of the Christian faith- a tenet of such central importance that with it the Christian religion can be said to stand or fall it was to effect the atonement for man's sin and to reconcile the creature and the Creator that the Son of God assumed the human nature. This has been the conviction of all those who have stood within the historic Christian tradition - from the days of the Apostles onward.

The study of the doctrine of the atonement, accordingly, represents one of the most …

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

A second catch phrase of the unionistic propaganda is "Unity In diversity," "Diversity within unity," "Einigkeit in Mannigfaltigkeit." It expresses the idea that the existence of the various denominations within the external church denominationalism is a blessing; the doctrinal differences do not divide the churches, but form one harmonious body of doctrine; and by practicing fellowship, pulpit fellowship, intercommunion, co-operation - interdenominationalism - the churches utilize the blessings connected with denominationalism.

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Unionism is the order of the day. In an address delivered at Valparaiso on Sept. 23, 1942, Dr. J. W. Behnken declared: ''The things which are happening on earth in these days are not merely rocking the very foundation of our vaunted twentieth-century civilization, but are also causing dreadful difficulties for the Church. But far worse than this havoc is the alarming indifference to the Word of God as it manifests itself in the mighty movements to unite all churches professing the Christian name into one large body. Within very recent months some very ominous statements have been made belittling …

Foreword, W. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Another year arrives, and what a hapless, disjointed, sad, disillusioned world it looks upon! Nation slaughters nation; the globe resembles one huge shambles; civilization apparently is collapsing, the social order disintegrating; the noble inventions and discoveries of science are harnessed to the chariot of destruction and death; the ingenuity of statesmen stands discredited; education has led downward; mankind may be compared to a large monster which is gnawing at its own vitals. Those whose eyes have not been entirely dimmed can plainly discern the seven angels pouring out the vials of divine wrath on the earth.